Given that China is certain that Japan will intervene in Taiwan AR operation, it would seem prudent for China to utilize this economic downturn of Japan to further push it down economically and thus reduce its war potential
What’s more likely to spook capital markets? A slightly spicy budget or a nuclear superpower openly talking about invoking UN clauses that basically allows it to launch a full conquest of the Japanese home islands legally?
The western MSM will obviously downplay the latter and claim it’s all the former, but anyone with half a brain to see what the prime mover of Japan’s capital flight really is. And that’s precisely the point.
I don’t think anyone in Beijing or even China who has seriously researched and considered the matter would be at all surprised if Japan joined America in directly intervening in AR. That’s basically conventional wisdom for the last half century at least.
So Japan is somewhat justified in feeling perplexed that Beijing would react so strongly to it saying the quiet part out loud.
I think in time, this episode will come to be recognised as the first concrete sign of China’s shifting diplomatic and geopolitical game plan, where China has relaxed its stance from purely playing defence as it has done for decades, to incorporating proactively offensive moves into its repertoire going forwards.
Before, you can do things to salami slice Chinese bottom lines with little threat of any real and lasting consequences. But in this instance, Beijing is seizing on a serious, but ultimately minor offence to inflict real economic damage on Japan.
Beijing will not need to seize this Japanese economic downturn to hurt them more because deliberately triggering the capital flight and economic downturn was part of its plan from the very start. And if I am right, this is just the start. China can basically use Japanese pride and stubbornness to dial up the pressure and damage as much as it likes from here. Every few days it can demand a formal Japanese apology, and when the Japanese angrily reject the demand, announce new and harsher economic penalties. Even if Japan does apologise, Beijing can still continue to pile on the pressure and damage by rejecting the apology as insincere.
We are in the Dawn of a new age.