Landmark year for China-Japan ties turns sour as Beijing and Washington clash

What was meant to be a landmark year for Japan-China relations has turned sour, as the US stand-off with Beijing leaves Prime Minister Shinzo Abe caught in a fight between his country’s biggest trading partner and its sole military ally.

If all had gone according to plan, President Xi Jinping would have been feted on a state visit to Japan last month, the first of its kind in a decade. Instead, the event that Abe had told Xi would mark a “new era” in relations was called off as both countries battled the infection – and its future is in question.

Abe is now looking to deflect collateral damage at home as the world’s two biggest economies battle over the coronavirus pandemic and Hong Kong. The tensions between Japan’s largest trading partners come as Abe tries to revive a Japanese economy that analysts expect to suffer a contraction of almost 22 per cent this quarter, the deepest for records back to 1955.

A staunch supporter of Donald Trump, Abe has stood by the US president in recent weeks. And that could pose risks for Japan’s exposure in China.

But a flare up in a territorial dispute between the two Asian powers and Beijing’s move last week to impose new security legislation that could stifle dissent in Hong Kong has helped stoke a resurgence of Japan’s own wariness toward China. Some in Abe’s own party, as well as opposition groups, are questioning whether Xi should visit Tokyo at all.