Chong Ja Ian, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said the inclusion of the phrase in the latest blue book showed Japan hoped for cooperation or at least stability in ties with China despite challenges.

“Engagement and dialogue are useful even if there is no agreement. That the Japanese side is extending this possibility is a positive,” Chong said. “Whether [China] will reciprocate is something to watch.”

US joint drill with Japan, South Korea likely to unnerve China: experts

However, the blue book also contains some sharply phrased criticisms directed at China, including accusations that it poses significant challenges to Japan’s security environment.

“China is attempting to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the East China Sea and South China Sea … and is continuing and strengthening military activities around Japan, thus making the security environment around Japan the most severe and complex in the post-war era,” the annual report on Japan’s foreign policy and diplomatic activities said.

Chinese observers said such references might send mixed signals, with Beijing inclined to give the reinstatement of the positive phrasing the cold shoulder.

In reaffirming mutually beneficial ties while stating its negative perception of China, Japan was sending out “ambiguous or even contradictory signals”, according to Zhang Yun, an associate professor of international relations at Japan’s Niigata University.

“Reinstating the strategic mutually beneficial relations after five years is supposed to be a good thing, but the consistent mentioning of the ‘China threat’ has washed away the positive effect brought by reintroducing the cooperative elements in bilateral ties,” Zhang said.

In a speech to the US Congress earlier this month, the first such address by a Japanese leader in nine years, Kishida said “China’s military actions present an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge” to not only Japan but the world at large.

He also pledged to strengthen strategic collaboration with the US, citing the military activities of China and Russia as the principal threats.

“Ukraine of today may be East Asia of tomorrow,” Kishida said.

03:11

Xi and Kishida reaffirm Japan-China strategic relations in rare leader talks after Apec summit

Xi and Kishida reaffirm Japan-China strategic relations in rare leader talks after Apec summit

Beijing on Tuesday expressed its “firm objection” to the Japanese blue book, with foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian saying that Japan had “resorted to the same old false accusations against China and hype of ‘China threat’”.

Zheng Zhihua, research associate professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Centre for Japanese Studies, said reviving the pledge for a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship could be a starting point to return to a positive trajectory in Sino-Japanese relations, but China was still concerned about the discrepancy between Japan’s actions and statements.

“Beijing would certainly welcome this positive gesture. However, it will … closely monitor whether Tokyo’s words are backed with actions,” Zheng said.

He added that Japan’s close alliance with the United States and like-minded countries, with a clear aim to contain and encircle China, was triggering distrust in Beijing.

Kishida’s April 8-14 state visit to the US also included a meeting in Washington with the US and Philippine presidents, Joe Biden and Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. The leaders at the first-ever trilateral summit of its kind confirmed that they would “resolutely respond” to any attempts by China to “unilaterally change the status quo by force in the South China Sea and the East China Sea”, a Japanese foreign ministry statement said.

In a 2008 joint statement, Japan and China committed to developing a “mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests,” aimed at facilitating regular high-level exchanges on matters like security and economic collaboration.

But the phrase fell out of use in recent years as tensions escalated between the historic adversaries over maritime territorial disputes, Taiwan, and more recently since Japan started a phased discharge of waste water from its damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in August, which prompted China to impose a ban on Japanese seafood.

Late last month, experts from either side held talks in the Chinese city of Dalian regarding technical exchanges on Fukushima waste water discharges, in the first public announcement of such a meeting as Japan tries to allay Chinese concerns.

Such exchanges may be a good starting point to address mutual grievances, but functional and technical meetings at a lower level are seen as having only a limited impact on improving relations.

Zhang at Niigata University called for “more substantial and high-level exchanges”, as senior officials do not meet and communicate frequently enough, which could lead to wrong perceptions on both sides.

High-level economic dialogue involving several ministers from both countries should be resumed as soon as possible, Zhang said. The last such meeting was held in April 2019.

Ryo Sahashi, an associate professor of international politics at the University of Tokyo, said: “There is a widespread perception among Japanese that Japan is lagging behind in China diplomacy”, compared to China-US dialogue and even China-Europe exchanges, but maintaining stable relations with China through diplomatic efforts remained a key goal of Japanese foreign policy.

Bilateral ties have also come under strain as Japan deepens its strategic alignment with the US, which China called the forming of small coalitions to contain its rise.

The Japanese blue book also stressed the importance of speeding up trilateral collaboration with the US and the Philippines to tackle challenges posed by Beijing in the South China Sea.

It also underscored the increasing significance of Japan’s diplomatic structures with allies and like-minded countries, such as the Group of Seven, the Quad security forum with the US, Australia and India, and the trilateral relationship with the US and South Korea.

How could an Aukus role for Tokyo affect China’s ties with Japan?

The return of the reference to strategic and mutually beneficial ties was unlikely to improve matters, given the deep-seated mutual mistrust and Japan’s labelling of China as the greatest strategic challenge, said Zhiqun Zhu, professor of international relations and director of the China Institute at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.

“In Beijing’s view, Japan has been the most ardent supporter of the Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy. It follows the US most closely among all US allies and partners in the US effort to counter China’s rise.”

“It is hard to be optimistic about Japan-China relations in the near future,” Zhu said. “If Japan continues the current approach of treating China as the biggest security challenge and actively aiding the US effort to counter China, there is no way Japan-China relations can improve.”