China imposed new export controls Monday on 40 Japanese entities it says are contributing to the country’s “remilitarization,” tightening the screws in a dispute that keeps ordinary people on both sides under the shadow of state power. The Commerce Ministry placed 20 Japanese entities, including multiple divisions of Mitsubishi Corporation, on a control list that blocks Chinese and foreign exporters from selling them dual-use items made in China. Another 20 entities, including Mitsui E&S and divisions of Fujitsu and Komatsu corporations, were added to a watch list that forces Chinese companies to apply for special licenses, submit risk assessment reports and sign written pledges that the items won’t be used for military purposes.
The people at the bottom don’t get to set any of this. They get the fallout. They get the trade restrictions, the military buildup, the nationalist chest-thumping, and the endless bureaucratic paperwork that turns commerce into another arm of state discipline. Dual-use items, the ministry said, can be used for both civilian and military purposes. That’s the language of the apparatus: one hand selling engines and equipment, the other hand counting missiles.
Who Gets Squeezed
The Chinese Commerce Ministry said the export controls are “entirely justified, reasonable and lawful,” and said they are meant to “firmly deterring Japan’s reckless pursuit of ‘new militarism.’” It added, “We hope Japan will recognize its mistakes, reverse its wrongful course, genuinely reflect on its past and return to the right track.” Japan’s top government spokesperson called the curbs “unacceptable and extremely regrettable,” and called on Beijing to retract them. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Monday that Japan would take necessary countermeasures after thoroughly assessing the curbs and their impact.
That’s the familiar ritual. One state punishes, the other threatens to answer, and everyone else is expected to absorb the damage while officials talk about “impact” like it’s weather. The ministry emphasized that the curbs affect only a small number of Japanese entities and apply only to dual-use items. “They do not affect normal Sino-Japanese economic and trade exchanges, and honest and law-abiding Japanese entities have absolutely nothing to worry about,” it said.
Militaries Trade Blows, People Pay
Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have been increasingly tense since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year implied Japan could intervene if China used military force against Taiwan, an island democracy China claims as its own. Under Takaichi, Japan’s military has been equipped with more offensive capabilities, including long-range missiles on remote islands. Exports of lethal weapons are now allowed under a new policy. Japan will revise its defense and security documents by December, which could further increase its defense budget.
On Monday, Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force announced the deployment of a Type-12 missile launcher on the southernmost remote island of Minamitorishima, an apparent response to China’s growing activity expanding into the Pacific. The language of “defense” keeps stretching to cover more weapons, more islands, more budgets, more machinery for future slaughter. The people who live under these decisions don’t get a vote on whether their lives should be organized around deterrence and escalation.
In February, China put 20 Japanese companies on an export control list and 20 others on a watch list. Since then, the Commerce Ministry said, “instead of reflecting on its past and correcting its course, Japan has continued down the wrong path” by accelerating remilitarization, deploying offensive weapons and launching missiles. The ministry’s own framing makes the state competition plain: each side accuses the other of militarism while building its own arsenal.
Taiwan, Trade, and the State Game
For Beijing, the issue of Taiwan is particularly sensitive. China considers the self-ruled island its own territory, to be retaken by force if necessary, and has increased military pressure on it. Earlier this month, the Chinese coast guard conducted patrols east of Taiwan in what state media described as a “pointed warning” to Japan and the Philippines after an announcement that the countries would discuss their maritime boundaries in waters that Beijing views as its own.
The export controls function more as a “diplomatic message” as Beijing steps up its pressure on Tokyo, said George Chen, partner for Greater China at the advisory firm The Asia Group. “From Beijing’s perspective, Japan has not taken meaningful actions to stabilize bilateral ties,” Chen said. “And concerns are growing in China about deeper defense cooperation between Japan, the United States, and potentially other partners.” He added that in the short term, Japan–China relations will likely remain fragile “and at risk of slipping further if neither side moves to arrest the downward trend.”
That’s the trap laid bare. States call it stability, then arm themselves against the instability they manufacture. They call it diplomacy, then use trade controls, missile deployments and coast guard patrols to send messages through the bodies and livelihoods of everyone below them. The United Kingdom, Germany and France issued a rare joint statement last week condemning Chinese activities in the waters east of Taiwan and opposing any change of the status quo between China and Taiwan. The great powers keep talking over the heads of ordinary people, each one claiming order while tightening its grip.
Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Kanis Leung and Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.