The Japan Group: Managing China’s People’s Diplomacy Toward Japan in the 1950s

Abstract

In the new Cold War context of the early 1950s, when the People’s Republic of China and Japan had no official relations, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai developed his so called People’s Diplomacy; a strategy of creating informal channels between China and Japan that could serve to build a network of personal ties outside the immediate government sphere, ties that would ideally become so strong they would result in official diplomatic relations. A central position in this strategy was reserved for the Japan Group; an unofficial network drawn from different foreign policy organs, centered on Zhou Enlai’s close confidant Liao Chengzhi, which was to manage Zhou’s Japan policy. This group, many of whom had a background in intelligence work, was charged with training the Chinese government’s Japan specialists, managing all interactions with Japanese, as well as with actively cultivating ties with a wide variety of Japanese, especially outside of Japanese leftist circles. This article traces the establishment and inner workings of the Japan Group in the 1950s, based on published records of, and interviews with, group members. The main focus is on the core of the group, made up of a small number of trusted Japan hands around Liao Chengzhi. Since this same core group of people was involved in all interaction with Japanese, they provided the continuity necessary for cultivating the informal personal ties that had to lead to the long-term goal of Sino-Japanese rapprochement. This networking process, which transcended the immediate concerns of particular negotiations and exchanges, will also be explored.