The Chinese and Japanese communist parties: three decades of discord and reconciliation, 1966–1998

This article depicts a painful period in the relations between the Chinese and Japanese communist parties. Using a case study of relations between a ruling Chinese communist party and a non-ruling Japanese communist party, the article covers negotiations and communique ´ between the JCP leader Miyamoto and CCP leadershipin 1966 that was overruled by Mao Zedong on the issue of Soviet ‘‘revisionism’’ and revolutionary line for the JCP. It discusses the resulting breakdown of negotiations and CCP’s efforts to splinter the Japanese party by setting up a pro-Beijing Japanese communist group. The article analyzes the obstacles to normalization, and the reasons why the leadershipof the two parties decided to compromise and reach normalization in 1998 after 30 years of acrimony.