Abstract

This article attempts to explore the Sino-Japanese rival and interdependent relations in East Asia through stressing their competitions for the regional “leadership.” The article suggests that the regional leadership requires strong national strength and other regional countries’ acceptance. Thus, to gain these competitive capitals, China and Japan have to treat each other as rivals to win relative capitals within East Asia. Therefore, China and Japan are playing zero-sum games. Moreover, making a bigger “regional” pie also could enhance both countries’ capitals, especially given the transnational character of non-traditional security; therefore, China and Japan have to be interdependent on one another, which is playing positive-sum games. This article concludes that rival and interdependent are measures for both countries’ leadership aspiration.