Japan recently announced restrictions on the export of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
Tokyo’s announced restrictions on the export of semiconductor manufacturing equipment will only “further stimulate” China to “become self-sufficient”, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told his Japanese counterpart on Sunday. visit to China. “The blockade will only further spur China’s determination to achieve self-reliance,” Qin Gang said, calling Japan a “lackey” of Washington, according to a report of the ministerial meeting.
Speaking to journalists, the head of Japanese diplomacy, Yoshimasa Hayashi, for his part defended the restrictions, considering them “in accordance with international rules” and assuring that they “did not target a particular country”. This visit by Yoshimasa Hayashi is the first to China by a Japanese foreign minister since December 2019. It comes after more than three years of sharply deteriorated bilateral relations.
The two ministers’ meeting in Beijing on Sunday came just two days after Japan announced plans to restrict the export of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. With this announcement on Friday, similar to previous decisions by the United States and the Netherlands, Tokyo immediately drew the wrath of China, targeted without being directly named.
“Ancient Tricks Against China”
These export restrictions are intended to “prevent the diversion of technology for military purposes”, Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura explained on Friday, assuring that no country was targeted in particular. “The United States used bullying tactics to brutally suppress the Japanese semiconductor industry, and now it is resuming its old tricks against China,” the Chinese foreign minister told his Japanese counterpart, according to the minutes of the meeting.
Semiconductors have become a major sticking point in the difficult relations between China and Japan, respectively the world’s second and third largest economies. The two ministers also mentioned the case of a Japanese detained in China. Suspected of espionage, he worked in China for the Japanese pharmaceutical group Astellas. Yoshimasa Hayashi told the press after the meeting that Japan had “protested” against this detention and called for the “immediate release” of this Japanese national.
China will handle this file “in accordance with the law”, commented Qin Gang.