Japanese businesses should help to rein in Tokyo's adventurism

Several Japanese commercial delegations visited Beijing recently for the fourth China International Supply Chain Expo, which was held from June 22 to 26. Among them was a delegation of Japan's Association for the Promotion of International Trade, which also visited China's Foreign Ministry and met with a vice-foreign minister.

The Japanese visitors were seeking to ease Japan's strained access to crucial industrial minerals supplied by China against the backdrop of a deteriorating political climate — one created and exacerbated by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her government.

Japan's economy is deeply intertwined with China's, featuring remarkable structural complementarity. Bilateral trade reached $146.7 billion in the first five months of 2026, up 17.2 percent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs of China.

Japanese companies supply precision machinery, advanced manufacturing equipment and high-end materials to China. China, meanwhile, provides Japan with a superlarge consumer market, efficient manufacturing capacity and supply chains that are difficult to replicate elsewhere. It should be an economic relationship built on mutual benefits.

That explains why Japanese companies continue to flock to Chinese trade fairs. Supply chains constructed over decades cannot simply be restructured because the Japanese right-wing forces decide to redraw geopolitical maps.

But the Takaichi government's political choices, particularly those that touch issues related to China's sovereignty, territorial integrity and core interests, are having grave economic consequences.

Since Takaichi assumed office last October, her irresponsible and erroneous remarks and actions have deeply damaged China-Japan relations. Japanese businesses have paid a heavy price.

Their frustration is understandable. Their efforts to try and mend economic ties with China reflect a recognition shared by much of corporate Japan that the Takaichi government's China policy threatens the very foundation of bilateral economic relations.

The goodwill of some Japanese businesses, however, cannot substitute for political trust. Economic dialogue cannot be insulated indefinitely from broader diplomatic tensions. If the Takaichi government continues to inflame historical grievances and persists in its misguided neo-militarist trajectory, the economic relationship between China and Japan will inevitably bear the brunt of further consequences.

That is the stark reality confronting Japanese companies operating in China, as well as those relying on China's market and manufacturing ecosystem. Instead of urging Beijing to restore normal economic ties, Japanese businesses might achieve more by directing their efforts at home. The current diplomatic impasse is the product of the political choices of Tokyo.

Even more troubling is the possibility that the present impasse could be institutionalized by Tokyo. If the Takaichi government continues using the strained relations to justify the "restructuring" of supply chains and reducing economic engagement with China, Japanese companies should brace for a vastly different commercial environment.

Beneath this economic calculus lies a far graver concern. Should Japan's right-wing forces succeed in resurrecting their militaristic ambitions and steering the country back toward confrontation with its neighbors, the Takaichi government's current moves would be seen as a calculated step down that road. Left unchecked, this path leads to a re-militarized Japan, and a new source of regional conflict. In this dangerous context, the fate of Sino-Japanese economic relations is not merely a consequential footnote — it is a critical indicator of the direction in which the broader relationship is headed.

Geography and history, however, are stubbornly immune to ideology. China and Japan are destined to remain neighbors. Nor can history be rewritten by Japanese right-wing forces.

Japan's business community still has an indispensable role to play. Japanese commercial leaders have long served as an important bridge between China and Japan. They are uniquely placed to pressure the Japanese government to recognize a simple truth: the rise of neo-militarism will only lead the country to repeat its historical mistakes.