China has begun restricting exports to Japanese companies of rare earths and powerful magnets containing them, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, after Beijing banned exports of dual-use items to the Japanese military.

They’re at it again. China and Japan are frenemies, trading partners and uneasy neighbors with a tortured and bloody history they’re still working through.

China is opening an anti-dumping investigation into Japan over a chemical used in the manufacturing of semiconductors, it announced on Wednesday.

Japan called China's ban on dual-use exports for its military "absolutely unacceptable" on Wednesday, amid a looming threat of broader curbs on vital rare earths in an escalating dispute between Asia's top two economies.

China has banned exports to Japan of dual-use goods for military purposes. The move comes at a time of heightened tensions between Beijing and Tokyo.

China has banned exports of some rare earth elements and other items to Japan that could be used for military purposes, straining already tense relations between the two countries following the Japanese prime minister’s recent remarks on Taiwan.

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Friday she would meet her counterparts in the United States next week to discuss rare earths supplies, and repeated Tokyo's condemnation of China over its latest export controls.

Takaichi has said her government abides by the three non-nuclear principles, but hasn’t been clear on whether that commitment will remain unchanged.