Abstract

This essay examines one of the most interesting and less studied topics of historiography, i.e. the relations between Italy and China in the early 1930's, when Italian Fascism and Chinese Nationalism created a ten-year political and economic cooperation. Today, the historical archives allow a more complete reading of Italian foreign policy towards Asia and the Far East in that period. When Italy strengthened political relations with Chiang Kai-shek in China, its government also committed to strategic ties with Japan, at the most critical moment of the relations between the two Asian nations. The essay presents unpublished evidence of all these issues of diplomatic history and international relations between Italy and China.