Japan’s Strategy and US-China Geo-Technological Competition

CSDS POLICY BRIEF • 10/2021

By Yoichi Funabashi

28.06.2021

Over the past few years, the US has gradually reached bipartisan consensus on the idea that China is its most serious competitor. Japan reached this conclusion almost 10 years ago, when the country was exposed to China’s geo-economic coercion over rare earth exports. The ban on rare earths was a major challenge to Japan’s economic security, and so was China’s retaliation against Japanese claims over the Senkaku Islands with product boycotts, protests, and attacks on Japanese firms throughout Chinese cities. Today, Japan and the US share a similar view of China that is likely to last for years to come. Even Europeans seem to be altering their view of China.

CSDS Policy brief_2110.pdf (340.85 KB)

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