and assertive, capable of undermining Japan's vital interests and infringing her territorial sovereignty. It is important to look at the current dispute between China and Japan in the light of the history of Chinese foreign policy. Chang Chi-hsiung of Taiwan's Academia Sinica has argued that the pre-modern Chinese world order was based on status and stability ( mingfen zhixu ). Legitimacy rested not on physical control but on the recognition and enactment of the proper roles and duties appropriate to one's status. Under the logic of this system, emperors extended their power beyond China's borders not by force, but by their 'benevolence' or 'virtuous' rule, which Confucian thinkers believed would lead foreign states to acknowledge the emperor's moral suzerainty. Thus, outside China proper, it was possible to rule even where there was no mechanism of physical governance in place. Practical benefits accompanied acceptance of China's nominal status at the head of this universal structure: tributary trade with China was not only extremely profitable but also provided many goods that could not be easily accessed elsewhere. On the other hand, gifts and titles from the Chinese emperor allowed rulers to strengthen their own position vis--vis their subjects. Although Japan stayed out of the system during its Tokugawa period (1603-1868) the vast majority of states in east, inner and south-east Asia, including the Ryukyus (modern-day Okinawa), accepted a tributary relationship with China. This Sinocentric international order was much weakened during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). Defeat by Britain in the Opium Wars (1839-42)