Japan's Mediating Role in Sino-US Relations: The Negotiation of China's Membership in the Asian Development Bank

This study examines the negotiation process leading to China's membership in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) during the 1980s. Even though the US supported China's modernisation, its parallel support of Taiwan's full membership of the bank complicated China's entry into the ADB. Japan leveraged its influential position within the bank and played a mediating role in Sino-US relations to facilitate China's admission. The study contributes insight into the tripartite relations between China, Japan and the US within a regional organisation and illuminates the history of China's integration into the US-led international economic order in the 1980s.