Beijing
—
China has warned its citizens against traveling to Japan amid an intensifying backlash over the country’s prime minister’s comments on the island of Taiwan.
This ruling is the Chinese government’s most substantial retaliation to date for Sanae Takaichi’s comments. While this may be more symbolic than anything else, the move signals Beijing’s readiness to use economic influence to pursue geopolitical points, a well-worn strategy.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Friday that recent “blatantly provocative statements against Taiwan” have “further deteriorated the atmosphere of people-to-people exchanges and posed further risks to the safety and security of Chinese people in Japan.”
The ministry and its mission are calling on Chinese citizens to refrain from visiting Japan for the time being.
The move is the latest in anger from Beijing in nearly a week since Takaichi said in response to a question in Japan’s parliament that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be considered a “situation that threatens Japan’s existence” and could therefore trigger a military response from Tokyo.
The Chinese government considers Taiwan’s autonomous democracy to be its own territory, and has vowed to take control of the island by force if necessary. For the Chinese government, Taiwan’s sovereignty is the most sensitive issue in its relations with other countries, and is a “red line” that must not be crossed.
Separately, China’s Defense Ministry warned on Friday that if Japan were to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait, it would “suffer a catastrophic defeat.”
Nearly 7.5 million Chinese tourists visited Japan from January to September this year, by far the most of any country or region, according to official data cited by Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
The travel advisory follows official protests from both sides over the incident (each country summoning the other country’s ambassador) and a growing fierce backlash against Gaoichi from within China, where nationalist and anti-Japanese sentiment has grown in recent years.
The conflict comes less than two weeks after Gaoichi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for the first time on the sidelines of an international summit and agreed to pursue constructive and stable relations.
The backlash began last Saturday when Xue Jian, the Chinese consul general in Osaka, shared a news article about Takaichi’s remarks and commented in a post on X, which has now been deleted, saying, “I have to cut off the dirty head that sticks out of me.”
In the aftermath, state media published a barrage of scathing commentaries and editorials, and social media discussions were rampant, disparaging Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister.
An editorial in the People’s Liberation Army Daily published on Saturday attacked Gaoshi, saying that China would deliver a “frontal blow” if Japan intervened militarily in the Taiwan Strait. An X account associated with the People’s Liberation Army also circulated comments translated into Japanese warning that Japan would “pay a heavy price” in such an event.
The Japanese government summoned the Chinese ambassador to Japan on Friday to protest Xue’s “highly inappropriate comments” and called on the Chinese government to take “appropriate action,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The day before, the Chinese government summoned the Japanese ambassador to China, and during the meeting, Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong stated that Gaoichi’s remarks had “severely damaged the political foundations of China-Japan relations,” and criticized Japan for not retracting his remarks.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Friday there was no need to retract Takaichi’s comments, stressing that they were made in the context of discussions about the “existing critical situation.”
Separately, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said on Friday that “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is important not only for Japan’s security but also for the stability of the international community.”
Takaichi said Monday that his remarks were “hypothetical” and that he would refrain from making similar statements in the Diet again.
Previous Japanese leaders have avoided discussing Taiwan in the context of military response. And the U.S. government remains intentionally vague about how it would respond to a hypothetical invasion, a policy known as “strategic ambiguity.”
Beijing is widely seen as aiming to establish itself as the region’s dominant power, but takes a cautious view of alliances with the United States and Japan when it comes to its own regional security and ambitions.
Takaichi has called for closer security ties with the United States and last month moved to accelerate efforts to strengthen national defense, but like previous Japanese prime ministers, he must balance this with close economic ties with China.
CNN’s Junko Ogura contributed to this report.
