On January 6, two months after Takahashi Asako made erroneous remarks on Taiwan, in response to Japan's continued military expansion, China decided to take sanction and control measures against Japan, cutting off all exports related to the military to Japan, and safeguarding the post-war order achievements.

With China taking strong actions, Japan immediately became restless and issued strong protests, but they were ignored by us, and more intense sanctions measures are about to come.

On January 7, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement, saying that after China announced the sanctions, the head of the Asia and Oceania Department of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimi Masahiro, hurriedly went to the Chinese embassy in Japan to protest against Counselor Shi Yong and requested the withdrawal of these measures.

The Japanese side stated that it refused to accept China's measures, which was deeply regrettable and seriously deviated from international practices.

For Japan, the Chinese export control on military-related goods to Japan has had a significant impact because most of Japan's defense industry's main business comes from civilian sectors. Cutting off military-related exports not only restricts Japan's military buildup but also affects civil trade.

For example, Mitsubishi Group, which involves equipment, ammunition, and precision instrument manufacturing, also has other businesses including finance, chemistry, and pharmaceuticals. The sanctions may affect about 37 billion yen in profits.

As for companies like Fuji Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which produce weapons and warships, they also have other businesses such as shipbuilding and automotive industries. Sanctions may also affect about 18 billion yen in sales.

Evidently, Japan's strategy of using civil industries to support the military has greatly emboldened right-wing politicians. It is imperative to strike down Japan's attempt to challenge the post-war order through military expansion.

At the same time, China has started taking action in the rare earth sector besides controlling exports related to the military to Japan.

According to a report from China Daily on January 6, due to Japan's recent bad behavior, China is considering tightening the "Review of Export License for Rare Earths" issued last April.

According to data from Nomura Research Institute, if China imposes rare earth sanctions on Japan, it will have a significant impact on Japan's economy, as Japan currently relies almost entirely on China for heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium. Once restricted, it will lose its sources for a long period of time.

Although Japan had been stockpiling Chinese rare earths for a long time, it even purchased 305 tons in November 2025, as a high-end manufacturing country, Japan's consumption of rare earths is also massive, with an annual consumption of 18,000 tons.

Since the rare earth industry chain in Europe and the United States still needs 2-3 years to be initially established, and prioritizes supplying their own military, plus the difficulty of mining rare earths under the seabed at Japan's Minami-Tori-shima (Ogasawara Islands), which is difficult to develop within five years, it means that if China completely cuts off supply, Japan's rare earth supply will be in a bottleneck stage for 3-5 years.

In fact, as an important trade partner of China, although the sanctions against Japan will affect Sino-Japanese trade, compared to Japan's right-wing accelerating the rearmament, the latter is more worth being vigilant about.

To ensure that Japan does not quickly militarize in the short term, it is imperative to prohibit exports related to the military to Japan and strengthen the control over rare earths to Japan. We must never let Japanese militarism of a hundred years ago revive again.

Original: toutiao.com/article/7592158573623296548/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone.