Overview
- The government draft, reported Tuesday by Reuters, drops the label “one of its most important” for China and is expected to win cabinet approval next month.
- It recasts China as an important neighbour and says the relationship is strategic and mutually beneficial, which marks a cooler tone than last year’s report.
- The draft cites recent run-ins with Beijing, including Chinese export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons on Japanese military aircraft, and rising pressure around Taiwan.
- Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian, quoted by the South China Morning Post, blamed the chill on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s November remarks about possible collective self-defence if a Taiwan conflict threatened Japan.
- Beijing tightened the screws after those remarks by reviving curbs on Japanese seafood, warning Chinese tourists off Japan, and limiting rare earths and critical minerals, while Tokyo and Washington later unveiled a White House plan to build non‑China supply lines for these key inputs.