“Problems of the Historical Past” in Sino-Japanese Relations in 2012–2019: Political, Ideological, Territorial and Economic Aspects

Despite the economic interdependence in the relations between China and Japan, there are still lots of difficult contradictions. Among them, a significant place is occupied by the "problems of the historical past" - a load of historical grievances and claims accumulated over centuries of contacts between China and Japan, which has become an element of the historical memory of both nations and one of the most important formants of mass consciousness for the Chinese. This study is aimed at determining the nature of the impact of the "problems of historical past" on the territorial, political, ideological, and economic aspects of Sino-Japanese relations in 2012-2019. The paper provides a comparative analysis of official speeches of statesmen of the two countries in order to determine the regularity of changes in the content and emotional color of statements on "problems of the historical past" against the background of qualitative changes in bilateral relations. The author comes to conclusion that "problems of the historical past" is an effective tool for mobilizing public opinion in the PRC and influencing the political behavior of the ruling circles of Japan. However, the PRC did not abuse this tool as a tool of pressure and used it to achieve mutually acceptable compromises.