Taiwan, Beijing and the US: has Japan chosen a side?

Japanese officials have shown support for the self-ruled island while defence white paper calls for vigilance with ‘a sense of crisis’

Chinese observers say the country’s strategic direction has shifted and Beijing-friendly voices in Tokyo have been muted

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Relations between China and Japan appear to be at a crossroads, according to one observer. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 12:00pm, 18 Jul 2021Updated: 10:05pm, 18 Jul 2021

Asian giants China and Japan are uneasy neighbours. While they set aside historical animosity and mistrust in the early days of the pandemic – Japan sending boxes of masks to China bearing a line of classical poetry that they “share the wind and moon under the same sky” – tensions are again rising.

Beijing is at loggerheads with the West, and US ally Japan has had to walk a tightrope between China and the United States. But in recent weeks, after several senior Japanese officials broke with Tokyo’s traditionally neutral position to show support for Taiwan, angering Beijing, Chinese observers are asking whether Japan has chosen a side.

“Japan’s strategic direction has shifted since [US President Joe] Biden took office,” Hu Jiping, vice-president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said at a recent seminar in Beijing. “In order to pander to the US, Japan has exaggerated the conflict over the East China Sea and put more emphasis on its differences with China in terms of security and democratic values.”

Relations between China and Japan are often described as “economics hot, politics cold”, reflecting the fact that growing economic ties have not translated into closer political relations. According to Hu, Tokyo’s recent pushback against Beijing suggests Japan could be willing to sacrifice those economic ties in favour of its security cooperation with the US.

“China-Japan relations seem to be at a crossroads,” Hu said. “This is a worrying development.”

In the early days of the pandemic Japan sent boxes of masks to China bearing a line of classical poetry that they “share the wind and moon under the same sky”. Photo: Weibo

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