China-Japan relations ‘at a crossroads’, Beijing’s envoy to Tokyo warns

Obsession with Cold War-style rivalry among reasons fuelling ‘deep ideological prejudice in Japanese public opinion’ towards China, ambassador to Tokyo says

Addressing virtual seminar on 50 years of ties, Kong Xuanyou urges Japanese businesspeople to help ease bilateral tensions

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The Fumio Kishida administration’s close alignment with Washington on China has left Beijing frustrated. Photo: AP

Published: 5:47pm, 27 Apr 2022Updated: 8:53pm, 27 Apr 2022

Strained Sino-Japanese relations could worsen further if Tokyo continues to treat Beijing as a rival and fails to turn around increasingly hostile public opinion, the Chinese envoy to Japan has warned.

In a virtual speech to more than 100 Japanese entrepreneurs on Tuesday, Chinese ambassador Kong Xuanyou also indicated Beijing’s frustration with the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida over its close alignment with Washington on China.

“If some people in Japan are obsessed with a narrow geopolitical vision and the Cold War mentality of confrontation between camps, they will naturally dislike China and regard China as a threat or even an enemy, and embark on the wrong path of pitting itself against its neighbours,” Kong said, according to a statement on the embassy website.

The state of bilateral ties was “far from ideal, with prominent issues both old and new intertwined with each other”, Kong told a seminar hosted by the Japan-China Investment Promotion Organisation to mark the 50th anniversary of the normalisation of Sino-Japanese relations.

“We are at a crossroads where we either forge ahead or retreat,” he warned.

Beijing initially viewed Prime Minister Kishida, who came to power last October, as more dovish than his conservative predecessors Yoshihide Suga and Shinzo Abe. But nearly seven months into his term, bilateral ties have shown few signs of improvement, with Tokyo edging closer to Washington in its alliance-based approach to counter China’s rise.