Latest news with #Japan-China
2 days ago
- Business
Chinese Premier Urges Japan to Stand against Trump Tariffs
News from Japan World Jun 3, 2025 23:11 (JST) Beijing, June 3 (Jiji Press)--Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday urged Japan to deepen cooperation with China to stand against high U.S. tariffs. In a meeting in Beijing with a delegation from the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade, Li said that the tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration are a defiant challenge to nations around the world. According to sources with access to discussions at the meeting, Li said that the recent agreement between the United States and China to reduce their tariffs was based on the Chinese side's views. He also voiced hopes for expansion of Japanese companies' investments in China. Former House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono, who heads the delegation, said he is concerned that Japan-China relations may be rocked by outside influences. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Yomiuri Shimbun
3 days ago
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan to Export Marine Products to China: Why Has Beijing Not Yet Fully Lifted The Import Ban?
China has finally acknowledged the safety of Japanese marine products and is likely to lift its import ban, but it must be said that the scale is limited and inadequate. If China is serious about improving relations with Japan, shouldn't it drop its scientifically groundless claims and make the decision to lift the import ban entirely? According to the Japan-China agreement, businesses in Japan must re-register with the Chinese authorities before resuming exports of Japanese marine products. In addition, the first shipment must be accompanied by a certificate of inspection for radioactive materials. Therefore, the actual resumption of exports is expected to be several months away. In 2023, when treated water from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant began to be discharged into the ocean, China banned imports of all Japanese marine products. Last year, the Japanese and Chinese governments agreed that China would conduct a seawater monitoring survey under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The results of the survey subsequently revealed no problems with the seawater. The safety of the treated water has been investigated and confirmed by the IAEA many times. Despite this, China has continued to criticize the treated water, calling it 'nuclear contaminated water.' The fact that such critical voices did not spread internationally probably contributed to the Chinese government's decision this time around. Nevertheless, China has allowed only 37 prefectures — excluding 10, such as Fukushima and Ibaraki — to resume exports. There is no scientific basis for the move, and it is hard to understand. Pending issues between Japan and China are not limited to marine products. Last month, a helicopter belonging to a China Coast Guard vessel violated Japanese airspace around the Senkaku Islands in an attempt to interfere with the flight of a Japanese civilian aircraft. In response to the Japanese government's protest, China reportedly claimed that the civilian aircraft had violated Chinese airspace. China also removed a buoy that it had installed without permission inside Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) south of Yonaguni Island. However, China asserts that both the installation and removal of the buoy were activities conducted in waters under its jurisdiction. China's claims, which are like saying the Senkakus and Japan's waters belong to itself, are unacceptable. Beijing's likely aim is to strengthen its effective control over them through establishing faits accompli. The Japanese government must not tolerate China's claims. Meanwhile, at the Asia Security Summit held in Singapore, there was many voices from countries including those from Southeast Asia expressing caution over China's hegemonic activities in the South China Sea. With the rise of China, it is becoming difficult for the United States alone to protect the security of Asia. Japan needs to make every possible effort to build a multilateral cooperative framework to safeguard regional peace and stability. (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 3, 2025)
3 days ago
- Business
2 Japanese Killed in China's Dalian
News from Japan Jun 3, 2025 13:05 (JST) Beijing, June 3 (Jiji Press)--Two Japanese nationals have been killed in the northern Chinese city of Dalian, sources familiar with Japan-China relations said Tuesday. On May 25, local public security authorities informed the Japanese Consulate-General in Shenyang of their deaths. A suspect who appears to be a Chinese national has been detained. The authorities said that the killings were due to a business dispute between acquaintances. Details such as the ages of the victims are not known. No ideological background is believed to have motivated the incident, according to the sources. The consulate-general and others are collecting information while contacting their bereaved families. Many Japanese companies operate in Dalian. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Time of India
06-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Threatened by Trump tariffs, Japan walks delicate tightrope between US and China
Live Events In Beijing, Japan sees positive signs Seeking tariff deals and stable ties in the US Competing in Southeast Asia (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Just as Japan's top trade negotiator travelled to Washington for another round of tariff talks last week, a bipartisan delegation bearing the name of " Japan-China Friendship " wrapped up a visit to Beijing. A week earlier, the head of the junior party in Japan's ruling coalition was in Beijing delivering a letter from Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping . Details of the letter are unknown, but the two sides discussed US tariffs in addition to bilateral all US allies being wooed by Beijing in its tariff stare-down with Washington, Japan stands is a peculiar case not only for its staunch commitment to its alliance with the United States but also for its complicated and uneasy history with the neighbouring Asian giant - particularly the war history from the 20th century that still casts a shadow over the politics of today."On one hand, they are neighbours and they are important economic partners. There's a lot that connects Japan and China," said Matthew Goodman, director of the Greenberg Centre for Geoeconomics at the Council on Foreign Relations. "But on the other hand, I think there are limits to how far they're going to lean into China."While Japan won't walk away from its alliance with the United States, the linchpin of the Asian country's diplomacy and security policies, "it's also true that the tariffs and uncertainty that Trump has created for Japan is really shaking things up in Tokyo," Goodman month, President Donald Trump announced a 24% tariff on Japanese goods in a sweeping plan to levy duties on about 90 countries. The White House has since paused the tariffs but a 10% baseline duty on all countries except China, allowing time for negotiations. Still, Trump's 25% tax on aluminum, steel and auto exports have gone into effect for tariff moves, as well as Trump's "America First" agenda, have cast doubts among the Japanese if the United States is still a dependable ally, while China is rallying support from tariff-threatened countries - including Tetsuo Saito led Japan's Komeito Party delegation to Beijing in late April, China hinted at difficulty in its tariff dispute with the United States, signaling its willingness to improve ties with Tokyo. An unnamed senior Chinese official said his country was "in trouble" when discussing Trump's 145% tariff on Chinese products, according to Japanese visit was soon followed by that of the bipartisan delegation of Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union. Zhao Leji, Beijing's top legislator, told the delegation that China's National People's Congress would be "willing to carry out various forms of dialogue and exchanges."Beijing did not lift a ban on Japan's seafood imports as the Japanese delegates hoped, but it signaled positive signs on its assessment of the safety of the discharges of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Beijing banned Japan's seafood products in 2023, citing those between Tokyo and Beijing have long been rocky. In the past several years, they squabbled not only over the seafood ban but also long-standing territorial disputes over the Senkaku, or Diaoyu, islands in the East China Sea, Beijing's growing military assertiveness and violence against Japanese nationals in China - an issue complicated by the nations' uneasy closer ties with Washington during Joe Biden's presidency also upset Beijing, which saw it as part of the US strategy to contain China and has lectured Tokyo to "face squarely and reflect on the history of aggression."An imperial power in Asia for centuries, China fell behind Japan in the 19th century when Japan began to embrace Western industrialization and grew into a formidable economic and military power. It invaded China in the 1930s and controlled the northeastern territory known as Manchuria. War atrocities, including the Nanking Massacre and the use of chemical and biological weapons and human medical experiments in Manchuria, have left deep scars in China. They have yet to be healed, though Japan's conservative politicians today still attempt to deny the elected Japan's prime minister in October, has a more neutral view on his country's wartime history than the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his two successors. Weeks after taking office, Ishiba held talks with Xi on the sidelines of a leaders' scholars, however, see Tokyo's recent engagements with Beijing as a pragmatic move to hedge against US protectionism and not a long-term strategy for stability with odds are low for Japan to move into China's orbit, Goodman said. "They have for a long time had to manage an important but challenging relationship with China," he said. "And that is, again, a long-standing problem for Japan, going back centuries or millennia."While Japan might welcome the friendlier tone from Beijing, it is trying to stabilize Japan-US relations under Trump's "America First" agenda, and it is hoping to settle the tariff dispute without confronting Washington, with an eye on preventing Beijing from exploiting any fallout in Japan-US was among the first countries to hold tariff talks with Washington. During the first round in mid-April, Trump inserted himself into the discussions, a sign of the high stakes for the United States to reach a deal with Japan. The Trump administration reportedly pushed for Japan to buy more US-made cars and open its market to US beef, rice and the second round of negotiation in Washington last week, Ryosei Akazawa, the country's chief tariff negotiator, said he pushed Japan's request that the US drop tariffs and was continuing efforts toward an agreement acceptable to both sides. He said Japan's auto industry was already hurting from the 25% tariff and that he needed to be "thorough but fast."Asked about China, Akazawa said only that his country keeps watching the US-China tariff development "with great interest." He noted Japan's deep trade ties with China and Japan are working to mend ties, the two are also competing in the Southeast Asia region, where Trump has threatened high tariffs as well. The region is deeply integrated into China's supply chain but under pressure from the West to diversify and reduce its reliance on China. With younger and growing populations as compared to East Asia, the region is considered an important growth as a major postwar development aid contributor, has gradually regained trust in the region, which also was scarred by Japan's World War II Wednesday, Ishiba returned from Vietnam and the Philippines after agreeing with their leaders to further strengthen security and economic ties. During the visit, Ishiba stressed Japan's commitment to maintaining and strengthening a multilateral free-trade system in each country. Ishiba also had telephone talks with his Malaysian and Singaporean counterparts earlier this month about US weeks earlier, Xi was in Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, also stressing free trade and seeking stronger supply a recent discussion at the Washington-based think tank Hudson Institute, Itsunori Onodera, Japan's governing party policy chief, warned of "very unstable" feelings among many Asian countries faced with high tariffs from the United States."There's a danger they might become more distant and become closer to China," Onodera said. "This is not something that Japan wants, either."
The Mainichi
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Mainichi
Will Japan lose all pandas after scheduled return of twins at Ueno zoo to China in 2026?
TOKYO -- Panda fans in Japan are keeping their eyes on Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, twin giant pandas at Tokyo's Ueno Zoological Gardens, after it was decided that all four of the bears at the Adventure World amusement park in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, will return to China. Pandas at Ueno zoo, the country's very first to have the animals, have historically symbolized the Japan-China friendship, but will we see the day when the beloved bears disappear from Japan? Pandas first arrived in Japan in 1972, when China sent two named Kang Kang and Lan Lan upon the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and the pair were kept at the zoo in Tokyo. Then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Susumu Nikaido reportedly summoned the zoo director and others at the time and told them, "Whatever you do, don't let them die." China has engaged in "panda diplomacy" not only with Japan but other countries by gifting the animals. In 1984, however, pandas were classified under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, commonly known as the "Washington Convention," as one of the most endangered species, and international trade for commercial purposes was banned. As a result, the pandas at Ueno zoo shifted from being "gifts" to being "loans" for breeding and research purposes. Under the pretense of conservation, a "rental fee" also began to be charged. Although there has been no official announcement, the fee is said to be around 100 million yen (roughly $700,300) per year for a male-female pair. The zoo has kept a total of 15 pandas over the past 53 years, including periods when it had none of the animals. Seven cubs have been born, and five of them -- Tong Tong, You You, Xiang Xiang, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei -- were raised there. The latest pair, Xiao Xiao, male, and Lei Lei, female, were born in June 2021 and are growing steadily. According to the April 24 announcement, as of April 17, Xiao Xiao weighed 95.7 kilograms and Lei Lei was 93.1 kg. They mainly eat bamboo, along with carrots and apples, and during this season, they also enjoy bamboo shoots. Since July 2023, the twins have been working hard at "husbandry training," which involves learning behaviors necessary for health management. The return deadline for the twin pandas is Feb. 20, 2026. This date was set in accordance with the original deadline for their father Ri Ri and mother Shin Shin, who were sent back to China in September 2024 for hypertension treatment and other reasons. However, there have been cases of extensions in the past, and a Tokyo Metropolitan Government official expressed hope, saying, "The specific return date for the twins has not yet been decided."
