Ratcheting up the economic coercion on Japan; Mixed holiday economic data; Germany's Merz arrives in Beijing; US-China; AI; Political education campaign ahead of 15th Five-Year Plan

Welcome to the Year of the Horse. 1. Ramping up economic coercion on Japan - The Ministry of Commerce started its Year of the Horse work with a ratcheting up of economic coercion against Japan. Today they placed 20 Japanese entities on its export control list, banning the export of dual-use items, and another 20 Japanese entities on a watch list. PRC Foreign Minister Wang Yi, a Japan expert by training, is sounding increasingly unhinged about Japan, so these latest actions should not be a surprise. In a Q&A following his speech at the Munich Security Conference he said: the erroneous remarks made by Japanese leaders on the Taiwan issue have exposed that Japan’s ambitions to invade and colonize Taiwan remain undiminished, and the specter of resurgent militarism still lingers. 日本领导人在台湾问题上的错误言论，暴露了日本侵略殖民台湾的野心未泯、复活军国主义的阴魂不散 Japan still wants to invade and colonize Taiwan? Seriously? Japan has not yet responded with any retaliatory measures. Will Prime Minister Takaichi continue to just absorb this increasing coercion, or will we start seeing actions around some semiconductor-related items on which the PRC is heavily reliant? And will the Trump Administration say anything to support Japan, now or when PM Takaichi visits the US in March?