(Reuters) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
TOKYO, March 24 – Japan will downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according \u200bto a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with \u200cBeijing worsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2026 Diplomatic Bluebook, which Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, will instead describe China as an important neighbour \u200band the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The draft cites a \u200bseries of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including \u2060export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military \u200baircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The shift in tone underscores a \u200bdeterioration in ties that has become entrenched since November, when Takaichi angered Beijing by saying that Japan could deploy its military if a Chinese move \u200bagainst neighbouring Taiwan also threatened its territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beijing responded by reimposing restrictions \u200bon Japanese seafood imports, urging its citizens to avoid travel to Japan and \u200cannouncing \u2060curbs on rare earths and critical minerals used in electronic components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Takaichi has said her remarks were in line with a decade-old security law, while a report by U.S. intelligence agencies last week<\/a> said she \u200bhad sharply departed \u200bfrom the rhetoric \u2060of previous Japanese leaders. Her government rejected that assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a speech to parliament last month, Takaichi \u200bwarned of Chinese “coercion” and mounting economic and security threats \u200bposed \u2060by Beijing and its regional partners Russia and North Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n