The Beijing music venue DDC was one of the latest to have to cancel a performance by a Japanese artist on Nov. 20, 2025, in the wake of escalating bilateral tensions.ScreenshotBEIJING — China’s escalating dispute with Japan reinforces Beijing’s growing economic influence — and penchant for abrupt actions that can create uncertainty for businesses.Hours before Japanese jazz quintet The Blend was due to perform in Beijing on Thursday, a plainclothesman walked into the DDC music club during a sound check. Then, “the owner of the live house came to me and said: ‘The police has told me tonight is canceled. No discussion,'” said Christian Petersen-Clausen, a music agent who has organized more than 70 concerts in China over the last 12 months.”Everything Japanese is canceled now,” he said. He added that he’d spent six months getting Chinese censors’ approval to allow The Blend to perform in the country. DDC announced Thursday afternoon that the evening’s concert was canceled due to force majeure and that ticket holders would be automatically refunded in the coming days.Japanese singer-songwriter Kokia’s Wednesday evening concert in Beijing was also canceled, according to the venue. Its public announcement, dated Thursday, blamed technical issues. Again, there was little advance notice. One social media post from a fan described waiting outside the venue for more than an hour, until well past the time the concert was scheduled to start.Other concerts by Japanese artists in China have also been canceled or postponed this week. It appears to be the latest fallout from an escalating spat between China and Japan over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Nov. 7 comments indicating Tokyo would support Taiwan if seriously threatened by Beijing’s military. Beijing claims territorial rights to Taiwan, a democratically self-governed island. Taiwan rejects this claim and says that only its people can decide its futu …
