Authors: William Choong|Kei Koga

Published: 10 Apr 2026

China has been trying to get Southeast Asian countries to take its side in Beijing’s spat with Japan. ASEAN needs to impress on China that it has a more nuanced view of Japan.

The dispute between China and Japan has intensified, after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks in November, saying that Japan might intervene in a Taiwan contingency. In January, China slapped sanctions on 20 Japanese companies and organisations over dual-use technologies. It has criticised Japan’s deployment of Type-03 surface-to-air missiles (SAM) on the southwestern island of Yonaguni, which, at 100 nautical miles from Taiwan, is Japan’s nearest territory to the island that China considers a rump province.

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The article was published by ISEAS.

IRSEA and ISEAS have agreed to enter into a relationship of cooperation.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position or view of IRSEA