The story from earlier: Japan seizes Chinese language fishing vessel in EEZ, arrests captain amid rising tensions
The legality of the state of affairs may not matter all an excessive amount of. That particularly since China and Japan are already in fairly the state of battle since Japan prime minister Takaichi took over. Her remarks on Japan doubtlessly needing to intervene militarily on the Taiwan state of affairs didn’t go down effectively with Beijing and that has since prompted relations to bitter dramatically in latest months.
Contemplating the backdrop, the most recent growth above absolutely will not sit effectively with China. That regardless of if Japan was performing inside its personal rights to take such motion. In a time when the connection between the 2 is slightly delicate, something that may be spun right into a controversial take shall be used as some reasoning to strike again.
For the reason that begin of the yr, China has already moved to curb uncommon earth exports and in addition banning exports of products with potential navy makes use of to Japan. And as a reminder, China has additionally urged residents to not journey to Japan to try to inflict financial ache on Japan amid decrease tourism revenue.
With tensions remaining excessive within the East China Sea, count on Beijing to reply as soon as once more right here. This appears to be the “new regular” when it comes to China-Japan relations, even when it has solely actually escalated to this stage for just a few months.
Nevertheless, it’s best to remain within the know with the headlines simply in case it actually bubbles up into one thing main – extra so than it already is now.

