The Chinese perspective of the US–Japan security alliance has experienced a sea change over the last half a century. During the early Cold War era, the alliance was perceived as a serious threat to China's national security. To counter the US–Japan alliance, China initially forged an alliance with the Soviet Union. By the early 1970s, with the change of China's threat perception and the rapprochement between China and the US, Beijing's hostility towards the US–Japan alliance had largely evaporated. Because all three players shared a common strategic interest to check Soviet expansionism, the alliance became harmless or even useful to Beijing in shaping a more favourable security environment in East Asia against Moscow…