An agreement between China and Japan aimed at closer political and economic cooperation. Post-war Japanese foreign policy was characterized by a tension between dependence on the USA and popular pressure for closer relations with China. The growing western inclination of Chinese policy, the thaw in US–Chinese relations following the Nixon visit of 1972, and increasing Japanese dependence on Asia for its foreign trade improved Sino-Japanese contact, leading to the signing of the Treaty in 1978, one of the major aims of which was the establishment of closer trading links.