China-Japan military tensions: what lies ahead in 2026?

As the new year unfolds, China finds itself grappling with strategic pressures fuelled by two US treaty allies at its doorstep – Japan and South Korea. In the first of a two-part series, Seong Hyeon Choi looks at how historically fraught China-Japan ties might fare as Tokyo bolsters its military posture with record budgets and advanced weaponry. China and Japan have never fully resolved the decades-old grudges of their wartime history and territorial disputes, but it was near the end of 2025 –...