Japan's Response To the Swing in Us-Soviet Relations
Abstract
Japan's Response To the Swing in Us-Soviet Relations SAGE Publications, Inc.1974DOI: 10.1177/002088177401300407 K.V.Kesavan Dr Kesavan is Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies at the School There has been a marked lessening of tension in international relations since 1971 owing to a climate of detente brought about by. the Washington-Moscow and the Washington-Peking rapprochement. The rigid bipolar Cold-War political structure which came into existence soon after the Second World War has now loosened, giving rise to a multi-cornered political system. The loosening of the Cold-War structure has resulted in a great degree of fluidity in international relations, and nations which were ideologically committed to bloc politics have come to regard the present climate of detente as an opportunity for new diplomatic initiatives in the pursuit of their national interests. - " Japan has welcomed the detente in East-West relations as the first major post-war opportunity to broaden the base of its foreign policy which had operated for twenty long years within the narrow Cold-War framework. The Japanese leaders know that detente has placed Japan in a complex web of diplomatic relations vis-a-vis the United States, the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China. They were rudely shaken by a