Justified, calibrated countermeasures aim to prompt Tokyo to rethink its path - 2026-06-30
The latest export controls on Japanese entities China unveiled on Monday indicate that Beijing is opposing Japanese neo-militarist policy while protecting normal economic and trade exchanges between China and Japan.
The move added 20 Japanese entities, including the National Institute for Defense Studies, to China's export control list, while placing another 20, including Mitsui E&S, on a watch list because their end users and the end uses of certain dual-use items could not be verified.
Announcing the move, the Ministry of Commerce said that the measures were intended to safeguard national security, fulfill the country's nonproliferation obligations and curb Japan's remilitarization. The controls remain a calibrated signal, as they target only selected Japanese entities and apply solely to dual-use items, leaving normal trade untouched.
China's February sanctions of Japan targeted 20 organizations associated with Japan's military establishment. The June list, however, broadens the scope to shipbuilding, advanced machinery, electronics, information technology, aerospace and research institutions.
The message is that modern military power no longer resides solely in weapons factories. It runs through industrial software, robotics, precision engineering and maritime technology. This is why the measures are an institutionalized economic security policy.
Entities on the watch list may apply to be removed if they cooperate with end-user verification requirements. In other words, Beijing is not simply imposing penalties; it is establishing a compliance framework that can be tightened or relaxed over time. Export controls are becoming a standing policy instrument rather than an occasional response to the rise of neo-militarism in Japan.
The precision of the targeting is equally notable. China remains one of Japan's largest trading partners, and Japanese investment is deeply embedded in China's manufacturing ecosystem.
Instead, Beijing has chosen a narrower route: raising the cost of operating in strategic sectors while preserving broader commercial ties. Strict licensing procedures, compulsory approval timelines and sweeping end-use reviews increase compliance costs even when exports are ultimately approved.
None of this guarantees immediate changes among the Japanese military-industrial complexes. It does suggest gradually rising transaction costs for Japan's remilitarization.
Since taking office last October, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has pursued an irresponsible, provocative and aggressive posture toward China by expanding military capabilities, deepening military cooperation with allies and promoting closer technology-military coordination with like-minded partners. Tokyo brazenly claims these steps are necessary responses to the "external threat" posed by China. The result is a familiar action-reaction cycle in the region that exposes Japan as the real threat to regional peace and stability.
In less than a year, the Takaichi government has systematically undermined the postwar order, interfered in China's internal affairs, rewritten security policy, liberalized arms exports, ballooned military budgets, whitewashed militarist history, and fueled regional military rivalry — all in flagrant violation of the pacifist Constitution of the country, the postwar restrictions on Japan and the spirit of the Tokyo Trials.
The Takaichi government's drive to remilitarize Japan is being pursued through a multifaceted strategy that mobilizes legislative, political, economic, cultural, technological, industrial and commercial tools alike. Far from being ad hoc or reactive, this approach represents a dangerous amalgam of historical revisionism, political adventurism, diplomatic expediency and resurgent militarism.
By posing as a "peacekeeper" while convening allies and distorting the facts, the Takaichi government is pushing Japan further down a path of error and peril.
As a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said, it is earnestly hoped that the Takaichi government will come to a timely recognition of its erroneous actions, desist from its current destabilizing policies, and, through thorough and honest reflection, restore itself to a course consistent with international law, historical justice and the shared interests of the region.
Source: China Daily
