Refuelling the Cold War: The China factor in the United States and Japan’s pursuit of economic détente with the USSR, 1972–1980
Journal: Modern Asian Studies
Year: 2024

Abstract This article evaluates China’s influence on the making and unmaking of economic détente in the 1970s. Utilizing recently declassified documents in Japan, the United States, and China, this article demonstrates that Chinese officials used both diplomatic and commercial means to influence their Japanese and American counterparts to prevent them from developing economic relations with the Soviet Union. During this process, Japanese and American industrialists had to carefully weigh up thei