Abstract
Liao Chengzhi was purged from the Chinese government and party apparatus in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution and was put under house arrest; however, he survived the terror of the ultra-leftist liquidation campaign and reemerged in August 1971, when the most brutal phase of the mass murder was over. His reappearance coincided with the regaining of influence of Premier Zhou Enlai (1898–1976) and Vice Premier Chen Yun (1905–1995) in the second half of 1971. Liao was officially rehabilitated in April 1972, along with other moderates including Vice Premier/Foreign Minister Chen Yi (1901–1972). Having lost precious years, Liao wasted no time in resuming the work he was previously in charge of. Most importantly, he engaged in the negotiations for diplomatic normalization with Japan. Tanaka Kakuei replaced Sato Eisaku as Japan’s prime minister in July 1972. Thus, the time was ripe for a new Chinese diplomatic overture toward Japan. This became one of the definitive achievements in Liao’s late career. Meanwhile, after another setback for the moderates in the wake of the death of Premier Zhou in January 1976, Vice Premier Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997) consolidated power in the fall of 1978. 1
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Chad J. Mitcham, China’s Economic Relations with the West and Japan, 1949–79:Grain, Trade and Diplomacy (London: Routledge, 2005), 210;
Kurt Werner Radtke, China’s Relations with Japan, 1945–1983: The Role of Liao Chengzhi (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1990), 192–200.
Radtke, China’s Relations with Japan, 194; Sun Pinghua, Watashi no rirekisho:Chūgoku to Nihon ni hashi o kaketa otoko [My Autobiography: The Man Who Built a Bridge Between China and Japan] (Tokyo: Nihon keizai shimbunsha, 1998), 133;
Quansheng Zhao, Interpreting Chinese Foreign Policy: The Micro-Macro Linkage Approach (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 140.
Sun, Watashi no rirekisho, 133; Zhao, Interpreting Chinese Foreign Policy, 140; Wu Xuewen and Wang Junyan, Liao Chengzhi yu Riben [Liao Chengzhi and Japan] (Beijing: Zhonggongdangshi-chubanshe, 2007), 363.
Sun, Watashi no rirekisho, 39–42; Sun Pinghua, “Honya-gai ga natsukashii” [I Miss Bookstore Street (in Tokyo)], in Waga seishun no Nihon: Chūgoku chishikijin no Nihon kaisō [My Youth in Japan: Recollections of Japan by Chinese Intellectuals], ed. Tōhō-shoten and Jinmin Chūgoku zasshisha (Tokyo: Tōhō–shoten, 1982), 198–202.
Fujiyama Aiichirō, Seiji waga-michi: Fujiyama Aiichirō kaisōroku [My Life in Politics: Memoirs of Fujiyama Aiichirō] (Tokyo: Asahi-shimbunsha, 1976), 179–182.
Ibid., 197–198, 203; Ishikawa Tadao, Nakajima Mineo, and Ikei Masaru, eds., Sengo shiryō: Nitchū kankei [Postwar Documents: Sino-Japanese Relations] (Tokyo: Nippon hyōronsha, 1970), 462–463.
Ibid., 198–201; Okada Akira, Mizutori gaikō hiwa: Aru gaikōkan no shōgen [The Secret Story of Waterfowl Diplomacy: Testimony of a Diplomat] (Tokyo: Chūōkōronsha, 1983), 145.
Sun, Watashi no rirekisho, 153–154 and 159; Wu and Wang, Liao Chengzhi yu Riben, 370–375, 379–386; Zhao, Interpreting Chinese Foreign Policy, 141–142; Haruhiro Fukui, “Tanaka Goes to Peking: A Case Study in Foreign Policymaking,” in Policymaking in Contemporary Japan, ed. T. J. Pempel (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1977), 72–90.
Fukui, “Tanaka Goes to Peking”; Sadako Ogata, Normalization with China: A Comparative Study of U.S. and Japanese Processes (Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1988), 51–52; Sun, Watashi no rirekisho, 152–153; Wu and Wang, Liao Chengzhi yu Riben, 386–387.
Wu and Wang, Liao Chengzhi yu Riben, 392–396; Yabuki Susumu, “Ryō Shōshi tsūyaku no yakuwari” [Role of Liao Chengzhi as Interpreter], October 21, 2003, http://www25.big.jp/~yabuki/2003/cd031021.htm; Yoshida Makoto, Nitchūhōdō kaisō no 35-nen [Recollections of Thirty-Five Years of Reporting Sino-Japanese Relations] (Tokyo: Ushio-shuppansha, 1998), 147–148.
Saionji Kinkazu, Saionji Kingazu kaikoroku: “Sugisarishi, Shōwa” [Memoirs of Saionji Kinkazu: “The Bygone Shōwa (Era)] (Tokyo: Aipeccu puresu, 1991), 370; Shinka-tsūjinsha shashinbu, ed., Shashinshū: Ryō Shōshi no shōgai [Photo Collection: Life of Liao Chengzhi] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1984), 85–94; “Nihon no ushio 4,” 186–187.
Copyright information
© 2012 Mayumi Itoh
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Itoh, M. (2012). The Late Career of Liao. In: Pioneers of Sino-Japanese Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137027351_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137027351_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-43955-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-02735-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)