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Issues & Insights Vol. 06 – No. 17

October 31, 2006

China-Japan relations have entered a period of unprecedented tension. Official state visits have stopped since Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro’s 2001 trip to China; and high-level dialogues have been few and far between. Public perceptions in both countries have reached record lows since the two normalized diplomatic relations in 1972. Scholars characterize the current bilateral relationship as “cold politics, lukewarm economics, and hot cultural exchanges.”