As China looks to rebuild bridges with Japan, will ‘better relations’ last beyond Trump?

China has made a number of conciliatory overtures to Japan recently, including promises to ease military tensions and remove controversial installations, signalling a strategic pivot by Beijing to counter anticipated pressure from US president-elect Donald Trump’s next administration.

“[Chinese President Xi Jinping] wants better relations with Japan to act as a deterrent against Tokyo unilaterally siding with Washington on every decision after January,” Go Ito, a professor of international relations at Tokyo’s Meiji University, told This Week in Asia.

However, analysts warn that any warming of ties between Beijing and Tokyo is likely a short-term strategy aimed at navigating Trump’s second term, with a return to a more confrontational posture expected in the future.

Xi hinted at Beijing’s desire for better relations with Tokyo in talks with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the Peruvian capital of Lima on November 15.

China’s leader expressed a “strong commitment” to advancing people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, the Cabinet Office reported. One week later, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the resumption of short-term visa exemptions for Japanese nationals.

The exemptions were suspended in early 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, but were not reintroduced even after the health crisis had largely passed.