[quote=Heyitsjiwon]
I wouldn't make the assertion that relations are cold at this point in time. The main point of contention that led to the conflict was the land disputes, which even then didn't cause major diplomatic issues until China sent an army into Korea to crush a rebellion. Japan saw this as a landgrab, and thus the Sino-Japanese War started. Hell, the Tokugawa and Qing didn't have much diplomatic interaction at this point yet. The only interaction they really had was mainly indirect through trade. The only reason that Qing-Meiji relations started to deteriorated was due to numerous interventions in Korea, Formosa, and etc. from both sides from the 1870's and on. Even then, the two signed a friendship treaty in 1871.
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The 1871 treaty was the beginning of [i]any[/i] kind of formal relations between the two countries, and it was far from anything resembling an alliance.