China’s Fire Beneath Japan’s Ashes

TEHRAN (Iran News) Visits by officials to the Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates Japanese soldiers killed in wars and includes several convicted Class-A war criminals, are a provocative issue that angers China. High-level Japanese officials’ visits to this shrine consistently trigger severe anger from both China and South Korea.

Another deeply rooted dispute concerns the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands—uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that are under Japanese control, though China and Taiwan also claim sovereignty over them. This dispute sometimes leads to clashes between coast guard vessels and anti-Japanese demonstrations in China.

China’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), established in 2013, is an air identification zone, and it recently declared that its air defense coverage extends over the disputed islands. This move was met with strong opposition from Japan and even the United States. Moreover, China views the close security alliance between Japan and the United States as a threat and considers Japan’s military buildup and the presence of American forces there as a risk to its regional stability.

Japan, like many countries, maintains unofficial but close relations with Taiwan. China, which rejects any foreign interference in Taiwan’s affairs, is highly sensitive to any Japanese support for Taiwan’s independence. From Japan’s perspective, however, China’s rapid military growth, modernization, and aggressive activities in the East and South China Seas constitute a major security concern.

Therefore, considering the current global sensitivities in the Asia–U.S. confrontation, these disputes have made China–Japan relations a mix of strategic competition and mutual economic dependence. While trade volume between the two countries is very high, deep distrust stemming from history and geopolitical rivalry prevents true closeness. Any minor incident in the East China Sea or a political statement can quickly escalate tensions. The unresolved and lingering roots of World War II can reignite China’s fire beneath Japan’s ashes and potentially lead it into another major upheaval.