Japan’s diplomatic rift with China has expanded into a sweeping economic and cultural freeze with Beijing halting Japanese seafood imports, suspending film releases, warning citizens against travel to Japan & signalling broader retaliation unless Tokyo retracts PM Sanae Takaichi’s recent remarks on Taiwan.

Chinese commentators have repeatedly invoked Japan’s imperialist past and its wartime atrocities as they denounced what they characterised as Takaichi’s attempt to return her country to militarism. A commentary in People’s Daily said Takaichi had poisoned relations between Japan and China.

Beijing is flexing its military and economic might to show its displeasure with the Japanese leader’s comments about defending Taiwan. But its aggressive approach risks backfiring.

Pivoting to a tech-driven growth model after the collapse of the property sector is a sensible move for China. The strategy has helped Beijing win a trade truce with Washington. But it may take years for the country’s industrial giants to mature enough to create enough jobs.

China and the EU are important economic and trade partners of each other, and China is willing to work with Europe to effectively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of both sides,

Two decades of sustained effort to build national self-reliance and minimize imports have antagonized trade partners but fortified what a senior adviser called Beijing’s “bulwark” against conflicts.

China's commerce ministry on Friday criticised comments made by Dutch Economy Minister Vincent Karremans defending the seizure of Chinese-owned, Netherlands-based chipmaker Nexperia, days before senior Dutch officials visit Beijing to discuss how to resolve the dispute.