**Ongoing strains in Japan-China relations, rooted in Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s November 2025 Diet remarks linking a Taiwan contingency to Japan’s potential exercise of collective self-defense, have sharply limited high-level contact since the leaders’ sole summit in October 2025.** Beijing responded with economic measures including rare-earth export controls, seafood and beef import restrictions, and reduced people-to-people exchanges, while publicly framing Tokyo’s defense buildup as remilitarization. As of late September 2026, no bilateral leader meeting has occurred this year despite multilateral forums. The November 2026 APEC summit in Shenzhen offers the clearest near-term window, yet Chinese criticism of Japan’s security posture and Tokyo’s emphasis on its U.S. alliance—reinforced by Takaichi’s recent calls with President Trump around the Trump-Xi summit—suggest persistent barriers. Traders weigh whether crisis-management channels or host-country protocol will enable contact before year-end deadlines against the risk of continued diplomatic freeze.