Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Wednesday that she remained “always open” to dialogue with China, even as diplomatic tensions between Tokyo and Beijing continue to simmer following her remarks on Taiwan that triggered a sharp backlash from Beijing.
Speaking at a news conference, Takaichi sought to strike a conciliatory tone, stressing the importance of maintaining stable ties with Japan’s largest neighbour. “China is an important neighbour for Japan, and we need to build constructive and stable relationships,” she said. “Japan is always open to dialogue with China. We’re not shutting our door.”
Her comments come amid a deepening row sparked by statements she made in November suggesting that Japan could intervene militarily in the event of an attack on Taiwan. China, which claims the self-ruled democratic island as part of its territory, reacted angrily, accusing Tokyo of crossing a red line and interfering in its internal affairs.
Beijing has repeatedly warned that it reserves the right to use force to bring Taiwan under its control, and it views any suggestion of foreign military involvement as unacceptable. Following Takaichi’s remarks, China issued strong diplomatic protests and urged its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan, a move that is now beginning to show tangible effects.
Official data released on Wednesday indicated that Chinese visitor numbers to Japan have slowed markedly. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), arrivals from mainland China last month rose by just three per cent compared with a year earlier, the weakest growth recorded since January 2022.
About 560,000 travellers from China visited Japan during the month, the JNTO said, noting that the travel warning issued by Chinese authorities was among the factors behind the modest increase. This represents a sharp deceleration from previous months, when year-on-year growth had remained firmly in double digits — 22.8 per cent in October, 18.9 per cent in September and 36.5 per cent in August.
Tourism officials and businesses say the impact of the slowdown is being cushioned by strong demand from other markets. Takayuki Kitanaka, a spokesman for the Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau, said that although many group tours from China had been cancelled, the overall picture remained resilient.
“The decline of Chinese guests is offset by visitors from other countries,” Kitanaka told AFP. “Many businesses are making efforts so that they would be ready to welcome back Chinese visitors once things calm down.”
China remains Japan’s largest single source of foreign tourists. Official figures show that almost 7.5 million Chinese visitors travelled to the Japanese archipelago in the first nine months of 2025, accounting for roughly a quarter of all inbound tourism during that period. Lured by a weak yen, Chinese tourists spent an estimated US$3.7 billion in the third quarter alone.
Spending data underscore the importance of the market for Japan’s tourism-dependent economy. According to the JNTO, each Chinese visitor spent on average 22 per cent more than tourists from other countries last year, making them a particularly valuable segment for retailers, hotels and regional economies.
A recent survey by major research firm Teikoku Databank suggests that Japanese companies are divided over the broader economic implications of the diplomatic spat. While 43 per cent of surveyed firms said the trend was negative for the Japanese economy, 41 per cent said they did not expect any significant impact.
“These results suggest that many companies are taking the current travel restrictions relatively calmly,” Teikoku Databank said in its analysis, pointing to diversified tourist inflows and pent-up domestic demand as stabilising factors.
Tensions escalated further this month when Japanese authorities said Chinese military aircraft locked radar onto Japanese jets during an encounter, a move Tokyo described as dangerous. Japan responded by summoning China’s ambassador to lodge a formal protest, underlining the fragile state of relations despite Takaichi’s renewed call for dialogue.
As economic interdependence clashes with growing security concerns, both sides face the challenge of managing disputes without allowing them to spiral into broader confrontation.
