China on Tuesday said it would restrict exports to Japanese companies with ties to the defense industry, the latest escalation in Beijing’s monthslong feud with Tokyo over Taiwan.
China’s commerce ministry said in a statement that it would block the export of all “dual-use” items to 20 entities, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; JAXA, the Japanese space agency; and the National Defense Academy of Japan, a military training university. Dual-use products are those that have both civilian and military purposes.
The restrictions are meant to thwart Japan’s efforts to expand its military as well as to exert economic pressure. Beijing has ratcheted up pressure on Tokyo since November, when Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said that Japan could help defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. China considers Taiwan, a self-governing democracy, part of its territory.
China’s restrictions could include rare earths, metals that are used in devices ranging from electric vehicle motors to missile systems. During a territorial dispute in 2010, Beijing stopped the export of rare earths to Japan for a couple of months, rattling its economy.
China’s commerce ministry said it was targeting the Japanese entities because they “participate in enhancing Japan’s military capabilities.” The ministry said another 20 Japanese firms, including the automaker Subaru, would be added to a watch list, making it more difficult to obtain Chinese goods.
“These measures aim to prevent Japan’s ‘re-militarization’ and nuclear ambitions and are fully justifiable, reasonable and lawful,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Japanese government said that China’s export controls “deviate significantly from international practice and are absolutely unacceptable.”
“We have strongly protested these measures and demanded their withdrawal,” Kei Sato, a cabinet official, said at a news conference in Tokyo.
In Japan, Subaru and Mitsubishi also produce aircraft and machinery and they have contracts with Japan’s military, the Self-Defense Forces.
The restrictions come at a tense geopolitical moment in Asia. Ms. Takaichi, an outspoken critic of China, has promised to raise Japan’s military spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product this spring. Japan believes that it must modernize its forces to keep up with China’s rising military clout in the region.
China has denounced Japan’s defense buildup. In appealing to Western nations, Chinese officials have invoked Japan’s aggression during World War II, saying that it must be contained.
Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a researcher at the Asia Center in Paris, said China’s restrictions were aimed at showing that Beijing would not back down. Chinese officials are working to put pressure on Ms. Takaichi, who recently won a sweeping mandate from voters for her hard-line agenda, ahead of her visit next month to Washington to meet with President Trump, he said.
“China is making a big fuss over the militarization of Japan, which is nothing new or unusual,” he said. “Takaichi is just increasing some of the expenditures to make the Japanese Self-Defense Forces more credible”
Mr. Cabestan said that Chinese officials were also appealing to a domestic audience. Targeting Japan’s defense industry is an easy way to fan nationalism, he said, and can help “glue everyone together around the Communist Party and the leadership.”
Beijing has in recent months restricted Japanese seafood imports, discouraged tourism to Japan and canceled mainland performances by Japanese artists.
Kiuko Notoya contributed reporting from Tokyo and Xinyun Wu from Taipei.
Javier C. Hernández is the Tokyo bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of Japan and the region. He has reported from Asia for much of the past decade, previously serving as China correspondent in Beijing.
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