Less than 750 kilometres from Taiwan and home to nearly 30,000 US troops, the Japanese islands of Okinawa would play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan.

China remains Japan's largest trading partner, with over 13,000 Japanese companies operating in the country. Iwaya emphasized Japan's desire to advance its relationship with China in a constructive manner and promote people-to-people exchanges to deepen mutual understanding.

The trip gave the impression that Japan’s relations with China were on the mend. Iwaya indicated that Japan would be open to hosting a Japan-China-South Korea Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in early 2025,

China may be a step closer to reopening its doors to Japanese seafood imports after Beijing signalled it was keen to strengthen trade in food and agricultural products. Meeting his Japanese counterpart Taku Eto in Beijing on Friday,

China's relations are starting to improvewith Japan, India and other countries that former U.S. President Joe Biden courted, just as Donald Trump brings his more unilateralist approach back to the White House.

The ban, issued via email to sailors on Friday, directed them to avoid using the DeepSeek AI Assistant “in any capacity” due to “potential security and ethical concerns” since the AI model originates from China, CNBC reported. Japan-based sailors queried by Stars and Stripes said they had not received the memo as of Wednesday afternoon.

On the campaign trail last year, President Donald Trump talked tough about imposing tariffs as high as 60% on Chinese goods and threatened to renew the trade war with China that he launched during his first term.

Sharp market declines stem from global economic concerns. Learn why upcoming earnings reports and U.S. AI spending could drive recovery and tech stock growth.

China said on Thursday it would apply provisional duties on imports of industrial plastics from the United States, European Union, Japan and Taiwan after a months-long anti-dumping investigation.

As Donald Trump re-enters the presidential office, the durability of these efforts will be tested, with his administration likely to reshape — though not entirely abandon — this critical partnership.

China’s relations are starting to improve with Japan, India and other countries that former U.S. President Joe Biden courted, just as Donald Trump brings his more unilateralist approach back to the Wh

Eyck Freymann is a Hoover Fellow at Stanford University and Nonresident Research Fellow with the China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College. Hugo Bromley is an Applied History Research Fellow at the Center for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge.