Deploying economic arsenal against Japan 'has risks'

What began as a bilateral spat between China and Japan has spiralled into a full-blown crisis, with China warning its citizens to avoid travel to Japan and suspending imports of Japanese seafood. Observers are familiar with China's playbook of deploying economic tools as diplomatic weapons. "They have done so before with regard to the Philippines and South Korea when ties went south," said Dylan Loh, an associate professor at Singapore's NTU. Loh said China's travel advisories had been especially effective, quickly throttling tourism in countries whose economies relied heavily on the industry.

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