Don’t overestimate your abilities, China’s top diplomat Wang Yi tells Tokyo in stern warning

Tensions between the East Asian neighbours have simmered since Japanese PM Takaichi's comments on Taiwan in November 2025. Read more at straitstimes.com.

BEIJING – The future of China-Japan ties, which are at their lowest point in years, depends on the choices that Tokyo make, said China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on March 8.

Reserving his strongest words for Japan’s leaders at a press conference on the sidelines of China’s Two Sessions – the country’s annual meetings of lawmakers and political advisers – Mr Wang called on the Japanese people to “open their eyes” and “not allow anyone to overestimate their abilities and repeat past mistakes”.

Tensions between the East Asian neighbours have simmered since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in November 2025 that a Chinese use of force against self-governing Taiwan – which Beijing claims sovereignty over – would “constitute a situation that could threaten Japan’s survival” and, therefore, justify a military response by Tokyo.

Ties have remained strained after Ms Takaichi secured a landslide electoral victory in February, running on an agenda that includes plans to accelerate defence spending and revise Japan’s Constitution to formally recognise the country’s Self-Defence Forces as a military force.

Echoing his own comments at the Munich Security Conference in February, Mr Wang on March 8 again used Japan’s World War II past as a cudgel when asked about his expectations for China-Japan relations in 2026.

Noting that 2026 is the 80th anniversary of the start of the Tokyo Trial, where high-ranking Japanese leaders were prosecuted over atrocities committed during World War II, Mr Wang said history has, once again, given Japan a chance for self-reflection.