Until now, China had pursued a different strategy. Rather than openly categorizing Japan as a security adversary, it engaged in “economic coercion” – discriminating against and pressuring specific countries for political, non-commercial reasons in violation of the WTO’s most-favored-nation (MFN) principle.
torsdag 9. april 2026
China’s Economic Sanctions Against Japan: An Assessment
On February 24, 2026, China placed twenty Japanese companies on its Entity List. This move marked a significant shift in China’s posture: Having previously sought to keep Japan’s security status deliberately ambiguous, Beijing has now explicitly designated Japan a country of security concern and publicly identified specific firms it views as threats. By framing the measure under the national security exceptions recognized by the WTO framework, China has made it considerably more difficult for Japan to establish a clear trade rule violation.
Until now, China had pursued a different strategy. Rather than openly categorizing Japan as a security adversary, it engaged in “economic coercion” – discriminating against and pressuring specific countries for political, non-commercial reasons in violation of the WTO’s most-favored-nation (MFN) principle.
Until now, China had pursued a different strategy. Rather than openly categorizing Japan as a security adversary, it engaged in “economic coercion” – discriminating against and pressuring specific countries for political, non-commercial reasons in violation of the WTO’s most-favored-nation (MFN) principle.