Donald Trump’s protectionist trade policies are leading to a reordering of economic relationships around the globe. The biggest is that between the world’s second- and third-largest economies — China and Japan. Talks in Beijing on Friday between the two countries’ finance ministers are the latest sign of thawing relations after years of tension. The rapprochement is to be welcomed — but is bound to have limits.
Bilateral trade exceeded $300bn in 2017, with more than 1,000 flights a week between the two countries. But Japan, the biggest source of foreign investment in China in 2011, dropped to fifth by 2016.
China reaped what it sowed after letting relations with Tokyo deteriorate from 2012, when the Japanese government purchased three of the uninhabited but disputed Senkaku Islands, known in China as the Diaoyu, from their private owner. The incident prompted one of the most serious postwar rifts between Beijing and Tokyo.