China and Japan conduct first security dialogue in four years

Asia-Pacific, News February 24, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

China’s Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong met with Japan’s Deputy Minister of Foreigner Affairs Shigeo Yamada in Tokyo on February 22, 2023, to convene security dialogues aimed at easing the tensions between the two countries.

This is the first time in the last four years that Beijing and Tokyo have conducted such talks. The talks come at a time when Japan has shown divergence from its conventional pacifist security policy and started emphasizing military build-up.

Last year in December, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kashida told his cabinet to double the country’s defense spending by the next five years from 1% to 2% of its GDP. This would account for almost $320 billion.

Tokyo also plans to stock up its ammunition and acquire long-range missiles that could strike mainland China. Beijing on the other hand spends far more on defense, which is at least four times more than what Japan spends on its forces. Increasing defense spending and military modernization by both countries is leading up to increasing regional tensions.

“The international security situation has undergone vast changes and we are seeing the return of unilateralism, protectionism, and a Cold War mentality,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong said at the start of the meeting in Tokyo with Japanese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Shigeo Yamada.

Sun also said that the two sides discussed Japan’s release of wastewater from the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific and about “unblocking” industrial supply chains. China has been raising the issue on a global level as well as trying to convince Japan for stopping it. The two sides did not provide many details on the issue.

^{Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sun Weidong (L) speaks to Japanese counterparts during the China-Japan security dialogue at the foreign ministry on February 22, 2023, in Tokyo. (Image Credit: Shuji Kajiyama/via Reuters)}

China is Japan’s largest trading partner, accounting for around a fifth of its exports and almost a quarter of its imports. It’s also a major manufacturing base for Japanese companies. “While relations between Japan and China have a lot of possibilities, we are also facing many issues and concerns,” Yamada told Sun.

The Japanese foreign ministry released a statement following the meeting that said that the two countries had agreed to try and establish a direct communication hotline soon in the coming spring, and to strengthen dialogue between their senior security officials.

The two diplomats also spoke on matters related to territorial disputes including the uninhabited islands in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu islands in China. Japanese foreign minister also showed its reservations about Beijing’s recent joint military drills with Moscow and suspected Chinese surveillance balloons spotted over Japan at least three times since 2019.