Since the end of the Cold War, a new world order based on “universal values” has taken hold among industrialized nations. Such values, however, fundamentally clash with prior international sovereignty norms of nonintervention in domestic matters, and especially in the case of authoritarian states still in the process of nation state building, universal values that transcend sovereignty pose a challenge to state unification, national integrity and legitimation within the international community, and are thus not something that can readily be assumed. In this respect, China can for a number of reasons be seen as the most determined advocate for “sovereignty norms.”
The dispute of “sovereignty norms” (non-intervention in domestic matters) and “value norms” (universal values), which caused the severe diplomatic twists between China and the West in the post-war era, was also observed in Sino-Japanese relations to some extent. In the early 90s, however, the legacy of the “Sino-Japanese special relationship” still maintained its influence and the dispute did not surface. In fact, Japan rather harmonized its own norms with Chinese standards and applied double-standard policy in its diplomacy. As this special relationship declined since the mid-90s, the norm dispute was triggered by China's most sensitive issue: Taiwan. Chinas distrust towards Japan intensified, and Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated to their “worst” level since the normalization. Afterwards China and the major powers of the West, including Japan, gradually compromised the two norm standards, and the new situation along with China's subsequent domestic stability and economic growth consolidated Chinese state legitimacy. Consequently, China began to actively take diplomatic initiatives, and also China-Japan relations turned from good-neighbor friendship to a new stage of the partnership for friendship and co-operation.
Nevertheless, during Chairman Jiang Zemin's (state) visit to Japan in 1998, historical issues were raised on a number of occasions for a variety of reasons, and subsequently resentment erupted in Japan as China was seen to raise historical issues for political ends. This in turn spurred nationalism in China even further.

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