When talking with China, Japan officially speaks out. On July 14 local time, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi publicly called during a press conference: Japan is willing to engage in various dialogues with China.

Moreover, he emphasized that it is extremely important to continue communicating with China in a calm and proper manner. Clearly, Japan has realized that maintaining dialogue with China is crucial—losing communication channels with China would lead to unimaginable consequences.

What significance and impact does this have?

First, Japan actually hopes to further stabilize Sino-Japanese relations and avoid full-scale confrontation.

Although both Japan's Defense Minister Inosato Shinjiro and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi have recently taken a relatively tough stance toward China, especially the latter, who on July 12 made remarks regarding so-called rulings, triggering diplomatic responses from China.

However, Japan truly does not wish for Sino-Japanese relations to deteriorate completely, as China remains one of Japan’s largest trading partners, and Japanese businesses are highly dependent on the Chinese market. Moreover, with global economic growth slowing down, Japan’s economy is under immense pressure, not to mention the long-standing issue of aging population.

Therefore, Japan is actually adopting a strategy of coexisting competition and cooperation—aligning militarily with the United States while preserving communication channels with China, hoping to thaw Sino-Japanese relations.

Second, Japan fears being marginalized and even abandoned once U.S.-China relations improve.

Because high-level contacts between China and the United States have been continuously increasing this year, both sides emphasize the importance of maintaining communication channels. For Japan, if U.S.-China relations continue to develop while Japan persists in opposing China, this would clearly be unwise.

Thus, Japan needs to send out signals externally—letting China and the United States see that Japan is always ready to maintain dialogue with China.

Third, it aims to pave the way for high-level interactions between China and Japan later this year. With a series of multilateral diplomatic events scheduled across the Asia-Pacific region later in the year, Japan’s goal is clear: to prepare in advance and lay the groundwork for upcoming high-level dialogues between China and Japan.

But currently, the difficulty is obviously very high, as no constructive space for dialogue and communication has been created. If Japan continues making strong statements against China while seeking dialogue, such an approach is clearly unrealistic.

Why now?

First, friction between China and Japan has increased recently, including over issues like the South China Sea and Taiwan. Japan needs to prevent escalation of tensions. Additionally, China is strengthening its maritime force deployments, and future patrols will become routine—a development that will partially strain Japan’s defense capabilities, placing significant pressure on Tokyo.

Second, Japan’s business community is exerting pressure on the government to maintain stability in the Chinese market and supply chains, in order to pursue greater development opportunities.

This is especially true in industries such as automobiles, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence.

Third, the strategic focus of the United States has shifted. The Trump administration is currently more focused on economic development, making trade, industry, and domestic issues top priorities—clearly, China remains indispensable. Japan naturally understands that provoking China further could trigger shifts in U.S.-China relations, which in turn would affect U.S.-Japan relations.

To sum up: Japan’s public statement reaffirms once again how vital Sino-Japanese relations remain.

The Japanese government understands that although the current state of Sino-Japanese relations will not change immediately in the short term, at least a goodwill gesture has been sent—Japan does not seek decoupling from China. Japan clearly hopes to maintain dialogue, thereby sustaining existing cooperation.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1870780916580352/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.