China Likely to Stay Tough on Japan This Year

Beijing, Jan. 3 (Jiji Press)–The administration of Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to maintain its hard-line stance toward Japan this year, following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark over Taiwan last November. Also concerned over Tokyo’s security policy, China will unlikely move to improve relations with Japan for the time being. “Japan’s current leader publicly challenged China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee, said at a symposium held in Beijing on Tuesday, blasting the remark by Takaichi again. The prime minister said at a meeting of Japanese parliament Nov. 7 that China’s possible use of force against Taiwan could constitute a so-called survival-threatening situation for Japan, allowing the country to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Infuriated by the remark, China has taken measures against Japan, such as urging its citizens not to travel to Japan and reinstating its import ban on Japanese fisheries products. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and aims to integrate the self-governing island with its mainland. The Xi administration maintains a stance of not holding dialogue with Japan unless the Japanese side retracts Takaichi’s remark. Beijing has effectively rejected a visit by a Japanese business mission slated this month. The Chinese side is also criticizing the Takaichi administration’s security policy, such as an increase in Japan’s defense spending, a planned update of its three key national security-related documents and talks on a potential review of the country’s three nonnuclear principles. “We must stay highly vigilant to the resurgence of militarism in Japan,” Wang said at the symposium. After Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated following Japan’s nationalization of some of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which are claimed by China, in September 2012, it took more than two years for the two Asian neighbors to hold a bilateral summit. The meeting between then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Xi was held in November 2014 on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in Beijing. China serves as chair of the APEC framework again this year. The Japanese side is exploring the possibility of arranging a bilateral summit with China on the fringe of an APEC summit slated for November in Shenzhen in the southern China province of Guangdong. But a source familiar with Japan-China relations said, “It remains to be seen whether the Chinese side will have cooled down by that time.” China has little incentive to improve its relations with Japan as its ties with the United States, the biggest issue of concern to the Xi administration on a diplomatic front, are showing signs of improvement. Still, a diplomatic source said that the Xi administration did not expect the Takaichi government to maintain high public support despite pressure from Beijing over her Taiwan remark in question. In addition, China’s claims over the remark by the Japanese prime minister have not gained broad support in the international community. China could review its policy toward Japan if there are changes in the environment surrounding the country, such as a resurgence of trade friction with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, informed sources said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]