Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen.
This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.”
The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan.
Photo: Reuters
The shift in tone underscores a deterioration in ties that has become entrenched since November, when Takaichi angered Beijing by saying that Japan could deploy its military if a Chinese move against Taiwan also threatened its territory.
Beijing responded by reimposing restrictions on Japanese seafood imports, urging its citizens to avoid travel to Japan and announcing curbs on rare earths and critical minerals used in electronic components. Takaichi has said her remarks were in line with a decade-old security law, while a report by US intelligence agencies last week said she had sharply departed from the rhetoric of previous Japanese leaders. Her government rejected that assessment.
In a speech to parliament last month, Takaichi warned of Chinese “coercion” and mounting economic and security threats posed by Beijing and its regional partners Russia and North Korea.
During a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Takaichi at the White House on Thursday last week, Tokyo and Washington unveiled a joint action plan to develop alternatives to China for critical minerals and rare earths supply chains.
Separately, China has lodged solemn representations with the Japanese after what it described as a “forceful break-in” at its embassy in Tokyo, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
A person claiming to be an active-duty officer of the Japan Self-Defense Forces scaled the wall and forcibly entered the Chinese embassy yesterday morning, ministry spokesman Lin Jian (林劍) told a regular press conference in Beijing.
“The individual admitted that his actions were illegal and threatened to kill Chinese diplomatic personnel in the so-called name of God,” Lin said, urging Tokyo to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident.
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