Overview
- China’s commerce ministry said the curbs take effect immediately, blocking sales to Japanese military users and to any end-users judged likely to strengthen Japan’s armed forces.
- The measure carries extraterritorial reach by warning that organizations and individuals anywhere who transfer covered Chinese-made items to Japanese entities will face legal liability.
- The notice did not specify products, though China’s dual-use catalogue includes drones, navigation systems, aerospace components, specialist alloys and certain rare earth elements.
- Japan sourced roughly 70% of its rare earth imports from China in 2024, raising concerns about potential supply-chain exposure for civilian industries and defense manufacturing.
- Japan’s trade ministry said it is assessing the move, which follows seafood import restrictions and travel discouragement as tensions rose after Takaichi’s comments and recent PLA drills around Taiwan.