China reinstated its ban on Japanese seafood imports on Wednesday, as tensions rose following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent remarks on Taiwan. The move reinstates a ban first imposed in August 2023.
Earlier this year, Tokyo and Beijing had agreed to ease the restrictions, with Japan confirming its first seafood shipment to China less than two weeks ago.
On Wednesday, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara emphasized that Tokyo “remains open to various forms of engagement” with China, though he did not specify any possible steps moving forward.
Tensions between Japan and China have escalated recently, with Beijing strongly condemning Takaichi’s November 7 parliamentary statement that a military strike on Taiwan could pose a “survival‑threatening situation” for Japan, suggesting possible involvement of its Self‑Defense Forces.
The seafood import ban was declared a day after Liu Jinsong, director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Asian Affairs Department, expressed ‘dissatisfaction’ with the outcome of his meeting with Masaaki Kanai, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.
According to Japan’s Foreign Ministry, the meeting affirmed earlier exchanges, with Chinese officials pressing Takaichi to retract her remarks while pledging to maintain the countermeasures already in place.
The measures have included advisories discouraging citizens from traveling to Japan and students from studying there. Meanwhile, Beijing has reinforced its stance and suggested the possibility of additional actions against Japan, raising the prospect of using its control over supply chains, including rare-earth minerals, if tensions continue or worsen.
China, which describes Taiwan as ‘the core of its core issues,’ has pledged to bring the democratic island of 23 million people under its control, using force if required.
Japanese officials have traditionally regarded a crisis in Taiwan as a direct security concern for Japan, but no prime minister before Takaichi had explicitly outlined in parliament the conditions under which the Self-Defense Forces could be deployed under the right to collective self-defense.
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