China imposed new export controls on Monday (June 29, 2026) on 40 Japanese entities it says are contributing to the country’s “remilitarisation” as tensions with Tokyo continue to rise.

Twenty Japanese entities, including multiple divisions of Mitsubishi Corporation, have been placed on a control list, which prohibits Chinese and foreign exporters from selling to them dual-use items made in China, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement. Dual-use items can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

Additionally, 20 other entities have been added to a watch list for dual-use items, according to the Ministry.

The watch list includes Mitsui E&S which makes engines and other equipment for ships, as well as divisions of Fujitsu and Komatsu corporations.

Chinese companies exporting to these firms will be required to apply for special licences, submit risk assessment reports on the Japanese companies and provide written pledges that the dual-use items will not be used for military purposes.

“China’s measures are entirely justified, reasonable and lawful. They are aimed at firmly deterring Japan’s reckless pursuit of new militarism,’” read the Chinese Commerce Ministry statement.

“We hope Japan will recognise its mistakes, reverse its wrongful course, genuinely reflect on its past and return to the right track,” it added.

Also read: China defends patrols east of Taiwan after three European nations raise alarm

Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have been increasingly tense since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year implied Japan could intervene if China used military force against Taiwan, an island democracy China claims as its own.

Ms. Takaichi’s government is also further reinforcing Japan with more offensive capabilities, including deploying longer-range missiles on remote islands and promoting lethal weapons exports now allowed under a new policy. Japan will revise its defence and security documents by December, which could further increase its defence budget.

On Monday (June 29, 2026), Japan’s Ground Self-Defence Force announced it deployed a Type-12 missile launcher on the country’s southernmost remote island of Minamitorishima, an apparent response to China’s growing activity expanding into the Pacific.

In February, China put 20 Japanese companies on an export control list and 20 others on a watch list.

The Commerce Ministry said that since then, “instead of reflecting on its past and correcting its course, Japan has continued down the wrong path” by accelerating remilitarisation, deploying offensive weapons and launching missiles.

China considers self-ruled Taiwan its own territory, to be retaken by force if necessary and has increased military pressure on the island.

Earlier this month, the Chinese Coast Guard conducted patrols east of the island in what state media described a “pointed warning” to Japan and the Philippines over an announcement that the countries would discuss their maritime boundaries in waters that Beijing views as its own.

The United Kingdom, Germany and France, in a rare joint statement last week, condemned Chinese activities in the waters east of Taiwan, adding they opposed any change of the status quo between China and Taiwan.

A China Coast Guard ship formation passed through the waters of the Senkaku Islands on Sunday (November 16, 2025) on a “rights enforcement patrol,” the China Coast Guard said in a statement, as Beijing ramps up tensions with Japan over its Prime Minister’s remarks on Taiwan.

A diplomatic spat between China and Japan has intensified since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told Parliament on November 7 that a hypothetical Chinese attack on democratically-ruled Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.

The remarks sparked an angry response from Beijing, which has signalled that it expects Ms. Takaichi to retract them in some fashion.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.

“China Coast Guard vessel 1307 formation conducted patrols within the territorial waters of the Diaoyu Islands. This was a lawful patrol operation conducted by the China Coast Guard to uphold its rights and interests,” the statement said.

China and Japan have repeatedly faced off around the Japan-administered islands, which Beijing calls Diaoyu and Tokyo calls the Senkaku.

The Japanese Embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Taiwan, the Defence Ministry said on Sunday morning (November 16, 2025) it had detected 30 Chinese military aircraft operating around the island and seven navy ships over the past 24 hours. Late on Saturday (November 15, 2025), the Ministry said China had been carrying out another “joint combat patrol.”