Washington – Just like Japan’s top trade negotiator last week traveled to Washington to negotiate a tariff, a bilateral delegation visited Beijing by the name of “Japan-China Friendship”.
A week ago, Beijing, the head of the Japanese ruling coalition Junior Party, gave a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, addressing Chinese President Xi Jinping. The details of the letter are unknown, but both sides have discussed US tariffs in addition to bilateral problems.
Looking at his tariff with Washington, Beijing has been submerged in all our allies, Japan stands.
It is not only for the Committee’s promise to the United States with the United States, but also for complex and uncomfortable history with neighboring Asian giants – especially the history of the twentieth century, which still shadow on today’s politics.
“On the one hand, they are neighbors and they are important economic partners. There is a lot that connects Japan and China,” Matthew Goodman, director of the council of the Council of the Greenburg Center for Geokonomics, says. “But on the other hand, I think that there are limits to how much they are in China.”
Although Japan cannot move away from the United States with the United States, the launchpin of diplomacy and protection policies in Asian countries, “It is also true that the tariff and uncertainty that Trump has created for Japan is truly shaking things in Tokyo,” said Goodman.
Last month, President Donald Trump announced a 24% tariff on Japanese products in an obvious plan to collect tariffs in about 90 countries. The White House has since paused for the tariff, but 10% of the baseline tariffs in all countries except China, give time for discussion. Nevertheless, 25% of Trump’s tax on aluminum, steel and auto exports has been effective for Japan for Japan.
Customs steps, as well as Trump’s “America First” agenda, expressed doubts among the Japanese if the United States is still a reliable ally, while China is expressing support of tariff-humor countries, including Japan.
In late April, when Tetsu Saito led the Japan’s Komatao Party delegation in Beijing, China indicated inconvenience to its tariff dispute with the United States, and indicates interest in improving relations with Tokyo. Japan reports that his country was “troubled” while discussing Trump’s 5% tariff on Chinese products, anonymous senior Chinese official said.
The visit to Saito was soon followed by a bilateral delegation of Japan-China friendship parliamentary union. Beijing’s top MLA Zhao Legie told the delegation that the Congress of China’s national people “would be willing to convey different types of conversations and exchanges.”
Representatives of Beijing Japan did not ban the import of Japan’s marine food as he expected, but it indicates positive signs about the evaluation of radioactive waste water discharge from the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant. Beijing banned Japan’s seafood product in 2023, citing these concerns.
The relationship between Tokyo and Beijing has been rocky for a long time. In the past several years, they are not only due to maritime sanctions, but also due to prolonged regional disputes over a long-standing regional dispute over a complex issue of the East China Sea, the growing military view of Beijing and the abnormal history of Japanese citizens in China.
Tokyo’s close relationship with Washington while becoming President Joe Biden also disturbed Beijing, which saw it as part of the US strategy to hold it, and gave Tokyo “to face the square and reflect the history of aggression.” “
For centuries, an empire power in Asia, China fell behind Japan in the 19th century when Japan began to adopt Western industrialization and became a strong economic and military force. It invaded China in the 1930s and controlled the north -east region known as Manchuria. In Manchuria, the Nanking massacre and chemical and biological weapons and human treatment tests -including audits, have left the oppression of war in China. They have not yet cured, though Japan’s conservative politicians are still trying to deny aggression.
In October, the Prime Minister of Japan, the elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his two successors, has a more neutral view of his country’s wartime history. A few weeks after taking charge, Ishiba discussed with Shi next to the leaders’ summit.
Chinese scholars, however, are not long -term strategies for stability with China as a realistic step to hedge against US security.
Goodman says Japan’s orbital entrance to Japan is low. “They had to handle an important but challenging relationship with China for a long time,” he said. “And it is going back to Japan a long -lasting problem, centuries or millennia.”
Although Japan can welcome the friendly tune from Beijing, it is trying to stabilize the Japan-US relationship under Trump’s “America First” agenda, and it is hoping to settle the customs dispute without facing Washington, preventing Beijing from using Japan-US relations.
Japan was one of the first countries of the customs discussion with Washington. During the first round in the middle of April, Trump himself entered the discussion, a sign of a higher part to reach an agreement with the United States Japan in the United States. The Trump administration has been reported to have pressured Japan to buy more US -made cars and open the market for our beef, rice and potatoes.
After the second round talks in Washington last week, the country’s chief customs negotiator Raosai Akazawa said he pressed Japan’s request to drop the United States tariffs and efforts to accept an acceptable agreement to both sides. He said that Japan’s auto industry was already being damaged by 25% tariff and it needs to be “fully but fast.”
Asked about China, Akazawa simply said that his country was “very eagerly” to develop US-China tariffs. He mentioned Japan’s deep trade relations with China.
China and Japan are working to correct relations, two are competing in the Southeast Asia region, where Trump has also threatened high tariffs. This area is deeply integrated into China’s supply chain, but its dependence on China is under pressure from the West to diversify and reduce it. With the younger and growing population than East Asia, the region is considered as an important growth center.
Japan, as a contributor to a large -scale development assistant, has gradually regained confidence in the region, which was also spread through the past of World War II in Japan.
On Wednesday, Esiba returned from Vietnam and the Philippines after agreeing to strengthen the protection and economic relations with their leaders. During this visit, Esiba emphasized Japan’s promise to maintain and strengthen the multilateral free trade system in every country. Isiba had a telephone talk about US duty earlier this month with his Malaysian and Singapore associates.
Just a few weeks ago, Shi was in Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, emphasized free trade and wanted a more powerful supply chain.
In recent discussions at the Washington-based Think Tank Hudson Institute, Japan’s Governing Party’s policy chief Itsunori Wonodera warned of “extremely unstable” feelings among many Asian countries facing the United States high tariffs in the United States.
Onodera said, “There is a danger that they can become farther and may be closer to China.” “It’s not something that Japan wants too.”
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Yamaguchi reports from Tokyo.
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