Nippon Steel-Baosteel split closes book on Deng Xiaoping's Japan legacy

HONG KONG -- The breakup of the long relationship between Japan's Nippon Steel and China's Baoshan Iron & Steel, or Baosteel, announced this week not only illustrates the tectonic shift in industrial power between the two Asian forces but also symbolizes the end of an era in bilateral ties that started with the late Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.

Baosteel's origins trace back to Deng's trip to Japan in October 1978 to exchange instruments of ratification for a bilateral peace treaty signed earlier that year. Deng was the first top Chinese leader to pay an official visit to Japan since the establishment of the communist regime three decades earlier, and he took full advantage of the opportunity to get business deals rolling, including through three landmark factory visits.