The construction of China’s costly signal towards Japan through justice mission military exercise 2025

This research aims to describe how China constructs costly signals towards Japan through Justice Mission 2025 using two mechanisms, sunk cost and tying hands. This study employs a qualitative descriptive approach with data collection through documentation and Creswell’s data analysis spiral. Results indicate that through the sunk cost mechanism, China incurs real operational costs through the deployment of military assets, such as the H-6 bomber and the CNS Changchun destroyer in the Miyako Strait and the waters around Okinawa. Meanwhile, through the tying hands mechanism, China commits itself through a series of public pledges, ranging from the establishment of red lines and the Three Never Allows principle, the dissemination of narratives via state media and bilingual graphic messages on social media, the strengthening of international support through bilateral diplomacy with several countries, to the demonstration of a firm stance through military warnings and official statements at the United Nations forum.