Japan Air Self-Defense Force Mitsubishi F-2s perform a fly past during the 70th International Fleet Review at Sagami Bay southwest of Tokyo in November 2022. Mitsubishi was among 20 companies blacklisted by China on Tuesday amid rising tensions between Beijing and Tokyo. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo
Beijing on Tuesday blacklisted 20 Japanese defense contractors, agencies and institutions, including Mitsubishi’s shipbuilding and heavy industries divisions, IHI Corp., the National Defense Academy and JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
The Commerce Ministry measures prohibiting Chinese companies from exporting so-called dual-use products with both civilian and military applications to Japanese firms and entities on the list also apply to overseas groups or individuals where the goods in question are of Chinese origin.
However, exporters can seek a Commerce Ministry waiver where particular circumstances warrant it, the ministry said.
It said those on the list had been blacklisted because they “participate in enhancing Japan’s military capabilities.”
Separately, a further 20 Japanese companies were placed on a “watchlist” requiring Chinese exporters to apply for approval to supply dual-use items, provide a risk assessment, and written assurances that their Japanese customers will not use the goods or materiel to boost Japan’s military capabilities.
Firms on the watchlist include automakers Subaru and Hino Motors, manufacturers of electric machinery Nitto Denko and Yashima Denki, ENEOS Corp., formerly the Nippon Oil company, and the Institute of Science Tokyo.
“These measures aim to prevent Japan’s ‘remilitarization’ and nuclear ambitions and are fully justifiable, reasonable and lawful,” the ministry said.
Affected items may extend to a range of rare earth metals, found in abundance in China, widely used in 21st century manufacturing from EVs to guided missiles.
Tuesday’s step represents a ramping up of a dispute between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan could help Taipei fend off any effort by China to invade the island it regards as a renegade province.
Takaichi’s administration said it had protested against the export restrictions in the strongest terms, saying they “deviate significantly” from international norms, calling them unacceptable, and demanding Beijing back down.
“We have strongly protested these measures and demanded their withdrawal,” cabinet official Kei Sato told a news conference in Tokyo.
Since winning a supermajority in a snap election two weeks ago, sufficient to enable her LDP party to suggest changes to Japan’s pacifist constitution, Takaichi has pledged to boost military spending to 2% of GDP to modernize Japan’s forces to contend with China’s growing military might.
Beijing has latched onto China-hawk Takaichi’s plans for Japan’s military to appeal to Western countries to think twice before giving Japan a free pass, citing the terrible consequences of Japanese militarism for Asia and beyond in World War II.
Analysts said that by targeting Japan’s defense sector, Beijing was whipping up predictable nationalist sentiment at home for its own domestic purposes, while pressuring Talaichi ahead of her visit to the White House in March at the invitation of President Donald Trump.
“China is making a big fuss over the militarization of Japan, which is nothing new or unusual. Takaichi is just increasing some of the expenditures to make the Japanese Self-Defense Forces more credible,” Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a researcher at the Asia Center in Paris, told The New York Times.
Historic February moments through the years
Former South African president Nelson Mandela speaks to reporters outside of the White House in Washington on October 21, 1999. Mandela was famously released from prison in South Africa on February 11, 1990. Photo by Joel Rennich/UPI | License Photo
