By Sanxuan
Since China decided to strengthen export controls on dual-use items to Japan, prohibiting all exports of dual-use items for military users and purposes in Japan, as well as any other end-user uses that could enhance Japan's military capabilities, Japanese Prime Minister Takahashi Sanae pretended to remain calm, reassured the public that Japan would win, while also playing the victim, claiming that China's export control targeted Japan alone, which was not in line with international practices, and demanded that China withdraw its measures. However, she faced a second "rebuttal" from China.
On January 15, He Yongqian, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, responded to Takahashi Sanae's request for China to withdraw its "export control on dual-use items to Japan," stating that he firmly opposed it and would not accept it.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, He Yongqian
Takahashi Sanae jumped up quickly this time, and there were previous reasons. In November last year, she made reckless statements in a parliamentary hearing, claiming that "a situation involving Taiwan might trigger a crisis threatening Japan's survival," implying military intervention in the Taiwan Strait. After being strongly opposed by China, instead of retracting her wrong statements, she turned around and pushed to increase Japan's defense spending to 2% of GDP, busy revising the "three security documents," deploying long-range missiles aimed at Taiwan, clearly aiming to break the peace constitution and achieve "militarization again." It wasn't until January 6th when China took countermeasures, implementing export controls on thousands of dual-use items, from rare earths, drones, to nuclear materials, precisely cutting off Japan's military industry and high-tech industries' throats, that she finally panicked.
Although Japan claimed to have alternative solutions, such as complaining to G7 allies and jointly building a rare earth supply chain independent of China, or sending deep-sea drilling ships to extract rare earths near the Ogasawara Islands at a depth of 6,000 meters, Takahashi Sanae knew these were just self-deceptive methods. Leaving aside the project difficulty and cost, even if they succeeded, it would be impossible to replace China's supply in a short time. According to calculations by Nomura Research Institute, if China cut off rare earth supplies for one year, Japan's GDP would shrink by 0.43%, and manufacturing might collapse entirely.
However, Japan's protests are not only baseless but also clearly hypocritical. Export control is a common international practice; the United States has been imposing it on Iran and Russia for many years, and Japan never said a word against it. When it comes to being controlled, they immediately jump up and shout "unfairness." In short, they want to follow the US in containing China while still taking advantage of Chinese trade. There's no such thing as a free lunch. China has already left enough room, only controlling military use, which does not affect civil trade. But Japan still wants to twist facts, isn't that self-defeating?
As spokesperson He Yongqian of the Ministry of Commerce said, Takahashi Sanae made erroneous remarks on Taiwan first, stepping on China's red line, and the reason for China's relevant measures lies in the prime minister's wrong words and deeds. Japan knows this well. Moreover, China's control is not only to protect its own security, but also to curb the budding revival of Japanese militarism and safeguard the post-war international order.
Takahashi Sanae
The Taiwan issue is China's internal affair, and the post-war international order will not allow Japanese militarism to revive. This time, China's "not accepting" is both a warning to Japan and a message to everyone: those who challenge China's bottom line will pay the price. If Japan continues to be stubborn and persist on the wrong path, what it faces next will only be more stringent controls.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/7595533367060333096/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author.