Tokyo has displayed admirable restraint in the face of Beijing’s outbursts over the past two months.
When China signaled a 40% cut in tourists to Japan, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi could have responded — perhaps by rolling back publicly unpopular relaxed visa requirements for Chinese travelers, agreed upon only in 2024. She demurred. When Chinese aircraft locked fire-control radar on Japanese jets, she didn’t reciprocate; instead, she sought to talk things over via a hotline established in 2023. Beijing didn’t pick up.
In the face of the recent implementation of export controls on so-called dual-use items that could include rare earths, it’s tempting to say that Takaichi should respond in kind. China is demanding that she retract comments made in November on the potential for the country to be dragged into a theoretical Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Japan might be the junior trade partner, but it’s not without options; it could impose like-for-like curbs of its own on semiconductor inputs or equipment.
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