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TOKYO: Japan downgraded its assessment of China on Friday (Apr 10) for the first time in a decade, marking a new blow to relations between the Asian superpowers.<\/p>\n
Japan’s ties with Beijing have soured in recent months<\/a> after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hinted in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on self-ruled Taiwan.<\/p>\n China views the island as its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force.<\/p>\n The Japanese foreign ministry’s bluebook – which details Tokyo’s official views on diplomacy and the international climate – had described China as “one of Japan’s most important” partners since 2016.<\/p>\n But this year’s edition simply calls China “an important neighbour”.<\/p>\n The report accused Beijing of “strengthening its unilateral criticism of and intimidating measures against Japan”.<\/p>\n As the diplomatic spat deepened between the world’s second and fourth-largest economies, Beijing urged its citizens against travelling to Japan and tightened trade restrictions on some Japanese firms.<\/p>\n