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Alyssa Chen

China’s top envoy to Japan has warned Tokyo against using better ties with Beijing as a hedge against uncertainty in its ties with Washington.
On the sidelines of the annual “two sessions” in the Chinese capital last week, ambassador to Tokyo Wu Jianghao said Japan’s relationships with the United States and with China were equally important.
“It is wrong and undermines the foundations of China-Japan relations to [use China to] hedge against changes in the US and great uncertainties in the US-Japan alliance,” Wu said.
“Both China and Japan are major powers on the global stage … Sino-Japanese relations and Japan-US relations should not be seen as antagonistic or conflicting with one another.”
Wu said Beijing did not make any demands about the Japan-US alliance and did not even consider it as a problem when diplomatic relations were normalised decades ago.
“But, it is vital that the alliance not be used as a means to confront and contain China,” he said.
Despite persistent tension over territory and their wartime past, Japan and China have appeared to be patching over some of their differences in recent months, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi saying last week that there had been “positive momentum of improvement” between the two countries.
Among the signs was Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Apec meeting in Peru late last year.
The two leaders repeated pledges to advance the strategic and mutually beneficial ties and build a “constructive and stable” relationship.
Wu agreed that there had been progress but the ties remained “complex” and could be strained by Japan’s adverse attitude to China.
He said the increased interactions would have a limited effect if Tokyo continued to see China as a rival or even a hypothetical adversary.
“Does Tokyo view Beijing as a partner, a friend, or as a competitor, or perhaps even as a threat? The perception will determine whether the future of Sino-Japanese relations can remain stable and enduring,” he said.


As conditions have improved between Beijing and Tokyo, US President Donald Trump has expressed dissatisfaction at the state of his country’s relations with Japan, urging Tokyo to shoulder more of the financial burden of its own defence.
Some observers have said that Trump may not be as committed to US allies as his predecessors, giving Tokyo added incentives to foster better relations.
Japan has relied on the US for security under a defence pact established after World War II. As part of the treaty, more than 50,000 US military personnel are stationed in Japan, the highest number of American forces stationed permanently outside the United States.
One of the repeated sources of tension resurfaced when Ishiba went to the US last month.
He and Trump voiced their opposition to “any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo [in the Taiwan Strait] by force or coercion”.
Wu said Beijing was certainly dissatisfied with the statement and relayed its objections through diplomatic channels.
A number of Japanese leaders have also suggested in recent years that conditions in the Taiwan Strait are very important to Tokyo. In 2021, late former prime minister Shinzo Abe said a contingency for Taiwan would also be a contingency for Japan, an idea that has gained support in Tokyo.
Wu added that it would be “dangerous for Japan to continue to send wrong signals” on Taiwan.
It echoed Wang’s warning last week when he said that if supporters of independence for the island used “Taiwan to cause trouble, you are actually causing trouble for Japan”.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to arm Taiwan.


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China

Diplomacy

Ties with Tokyo may be on the mend but could be undone by Japan’s view of its neighbour, ambassador Wu Jianghao says


Ties with Tokyo may be on the mend but could be undone by Japan’s view of its neighbour, ambassador Wu Jianghao says.


Exclusive | Don’t use China as a hedge against US, Beijing’s envoy warns Japan

Ties with Tokyo may be on the mend but could be undone by Japan’s view of its neighbour, ambassador Wu Jianghao says

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