{"id":55658,"date":"2026-07-09T08:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T08:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/55658\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T08:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T08:31:08","slug":"chinas-strategic-dilemmas-as-india-japan-tango-broadens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/55658\/","title":{"rendered":"China’s Strategic Dilemmas As India-Japan Tango Broadens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>PM Modi and PM Sanae Takaichi of Japan addressed the India-Japan Joint Economic Forum<\/p>\n

A brother-sister tango is all very well but when it involves two neighbours with whom China is not on the best of terms, Beijing\u2019s fear of encirclement goes up several notches. Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi\u2019s visit to India<\/a> that saw a quiet upward trajectory in their defence and economic relationship, was therefore not a good development from China\u2019s view.<\/p>\n

The decision to co-produce the Unicorn, which integrates several naval antenna into a single mast, may only be the tip of the iceberg. Other reports suggested a common destroyer design for both navies.<\/p>\n

That aside, the Tokyo-Delhi move<\/a> to get around Chinese blockades and price manipulation regarding rare earths and critical minerals, signals a determination to slowly curb Beijing\u2019s space for blackmail.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s Paranoia<\/p>\n

The other development not widely reported, concerned Japan deploying for the first time, the Type 25 cruise missile in Kumamoto on its southernmost island of Kyushu.\u00a0 The 1000-km range missile brings within striking reach, China\u2019s rich coastal cities of Shanghai, and Qingdao.<\/p>\n

The eastern seaboard is where China\u2019s wealth is generated and the sense of vulnerability may have deepened in Beijing.<\/p>\n

Witness the confrontation between the Chinese Coast Guard and the Japanese Navy in the seas off the Senkaku Islands earlier this week. Strictly speaking, such locking of horns may not be new, and July is generally the time when this \u201chot season\u201d plays out in the\u00a0 East China Sea.<\/p>\n

The confrontation saw no exchange of fire and according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, the Chinese vessels withdrew. Nevertheless the confrontation signalled China\u2019s intentions and with transgressions in previous years averaging around 200 a day, according to\u00a0 Japanese reports, 2026 may be no different if not worse.<\/p>\n

Fortress Senkakus?<\/p>\n

What does China hope to gain through such transgressions?\u00a0 Dr Satoru Nagao, scholar and non-resident fellow at\u00a0 the Hudson Institute, told StratNewsGlobal on the phone from Tokyo that China sees the Senkakus \u201cas a fortress that defends Taiwan from a potential invasion by the Chinese.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senkakus guard the approach to Taiwan from the north while the Philippines, an ally of Japan and the US, holds the approach to the south.<\/p>\n

It tells you something about China\u2019s frustrations that Japan and the Philippines are the main targets of its maritime anger.\u00a0\u00a0It explains the transgressions, the constant intimidation especially of the Philippines, attacks on its ships and plans now to blockade Scarborough Shoal, which sits well within Manila\u2019s exclusive economic zone.<\/p>\n

For now Japan is holding its own but during Takaichi\u2019s visit, there was a proposal mooted for India to take part in a trilateral with Japan and the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would be a Track 1.5 effort,\u201d sources said \u201cwhich can encompass anything of mutual interest excluding territorial disputes of course.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Will US Do?<\/p>\n

India\u2019s response is not known but the growing tensions and confrontations in the East China Sea are a reminder to Delhi that in both cases, it is Beijing which is the cause of much of the trouble.\u00a0 The key issue is whether the US, Japan\u2019s ally, will stand by Tokyo when push\u00a0 comes to shove.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201dUnder Article 5 of the US Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation & Security signed in 1960, the US is committed to Japan\u2019s defence and even maintains bases on Japanese soil, including Senkaku\u201d said Dr Nagao. \u201cBut Japan should defend Senkaku because the US will help only when Japan shows enough effort to defend.\u201d<\/p>\n

It may explain Japan\u2019s determination to counter Chinese transgressions on the high seas but what happens when the \u2018pushing and shoving\u2019 results in an armed exchange?\u00a0 That\u2019s when old alliances and new partners may be tested.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PM Modi and PM Sanae Takaichi of Japan addressed the India-Japan Joint Economic Forum A brother-sister tango is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[36745,12,8526,553,36746,8,36747,1955,2933,2299],"class_list":["post-55658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-blackmail","tag-china","tag-critical-minerals","tag-east-china-sea","tag-homeslider","tag-japan","tag-manipulation","tag-rare-earths","tag-senkakus","tag-takaichi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}