China’s warning to Japan that it could choke off supplies of rare earths, its favorite weapon in trade conflicts, targets a persistent vulnerability among Japanese manufacturers after more than a decade of Tokyo trying to reduce reliance on its rival.

China blocked exports of a raft of goods with potential military applications to Japan, ramping up recent tensions between the Asian powers.

Beijing banned exports to Japan that could have military uses, escalating a feud over Taiwan.

China holds far more economic leverage over Japan, but Tokyo is not without options. Japan is China’s second-largest market, accounting for about 4% of Beijing’s total exports and serving as an important outlet at a time when global trade frictions are squeezing Chinese manufacturers, Bloomberg Economics said.

TAIPEI: A China-born Japanese lawmaker sanctioned by Beijing arrived in Taipei on Tuesday (Jan 6), vowing to tell the world that "Taiwan is an independent country".Hei Seki, a member of Japan's parliament,

Duty-free sales at Japan’s leading department store operators fell sharply in December, highlighting how prolonged geopolitical tensions with China are weighing on the retail sector.

A little over a decade ago, a diplomatic row with Japan would have been enough to bring people out into the streets in China or at least stir a patriotic retail boycott. China and Japan have a long-running territorial dispute over the islands and authorities appeared to tolerate the anti-Japanese demonstrations that broke out in many Chinese cities that year,