Japan defence stance sours mood ahead of foreign minister’s China trip
- The Japanese diplomat’s visit to Beijing comes hard on the heels of Tokyo’s biggest policy shift since World War II
- The five-year plan to ramp up Japan’s military capability also frames China as an unprecedented strategic challenge, angering Beijing
Hiyashi was due to visit Beijing next week, but the trip has been postponed to late January at the earliest, because of surging Covid-19 cases in China, according to Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi.
Despite the schism on security and geopolitical issues, the first Xi-Kishida meeting in three years rekindled hopes for a detente between the two countries.
But last week’s unveiling of Japan’s biggest military build-up since World War II and Tokyo’s framing of China as an “unprecedented strategic challenge” have soured the mood – and could set the Asian rivals on a collision course over the next decade, pundits have warned.
With Beijing voicing vehement objections to the controversial rearmament plan, Hayashi may have limited space to manoeuvre when he tries to soothe his angry Chinese hosts.
Liu Jiangyong, an expert on Japan at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, described Hayashi as a China expert who is relatively friendly towards Beijing.