"Originally published in Japanese under the title of Chūgoku seiji kara mita Nitchū kankei by Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, in 2017."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Chinese politics as area studies -- The implementation and failure of political reform : the Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, and Zhao Ziyang eras -- The impact of the Tiananmen Square incident and the Soviet collapse : the Deng Xiaoping era -- Economic growth as legitimacy : the Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin eras -- The authoritarianism of the party-state system : the Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao eras -- The Xi Jinping system and the Cultural Revolution : continuities and discontinuities -- Establishment of the 1972 system and its limits : from the Cold War and the post-Cold War era (1970s-1990s) -- The shadows of "Japan-China friendship" : the Kōkaryō case the Hu Yaobang incident (1980s) -- The escalation of historical issues and Jiang Zemin's visit to Japan (1990s) -- A temporary mending of ties : toward a mutually beneficial strategic relationship -- Japan-China relations face the trial of the Senkaku islands (2010s) -- Chinese politics and Japan-China relations.

"Over the last half century, why has the relationship between Japan and China been so volatile that it keeps fluctuating between deteriorating and improving? Why does criticism of Japan over historical issues repeatedly converge and reemerge? The reason lies in the constant power struggles taking place inside the Chinese Communist Party itself. An examination of various cases and documents dating from the period of normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China from the 1970s to the present day will clarify how the Chinese political system is closely related to its diplomatic policies towards Japan."-- Back cover.