In the end, there was no honeymoon period.
Just two weeks ago, Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, was shaking hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Relations between the two Asian countries have now deteriorated dramatically, with China escalating nationalist rhetoric and even making an explicit threat to behead one of its diplomats.
Takaichi, who was elected Japan’s first female prime minister just last month, is at the center of an intensifying conflict with the Chinese government over Taiwan. Taiwan is a democratic island that China’s ruling Communist Party claims as its own, and is a red line that China has warned other countries not to cross.
The uproar began after Takaichi told Japan’s parliament on November 7 that a Chinese attack on Taiwan, which is located just 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Japanese territory, would be considered a “situation that threatens Japan’s existence” and could trigger a military response from the Japanese government.
Beijing has not ruled out using force to seize control of the island, and military exercises around Taiwan have increased in frequency and complexity in recent years.
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.”
Other world leaders have previously sparked heated debates with Beijing by delving into the thorny issue of defending Taiwan. Former U.S. President Joe Biden said multiple times during his term that the United States was prepared to intervene militarily if China attacked Taiwan, sparking diplomatic panic and repeatedly forcing the White House to walk back the statements, each time sparking anger in Beijing.
Takaichi’s remarks drew even more intense reactions.
“The dirty head that sticks out must be cut off,” Xue Jian, the Chinese consul general in Osaka, wrote in a now-deleted post on X.
The situation worsened after Japan criticized Xue’s “highly inappropriate” posts and Taiwan expressed concern over Xue’s “threatening” comments, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government defended its position and Xue’s comments.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday accused Japan of “serious interference in China’s internal affairs” and said Xue’s post was simply a response to Gaoichi’s “false and dangerous statements”.
For some, the controversy is reminiscent of China’s “wolf warrior” diplomacy. This is an aggressive foreign policy that emerged in the early 2020s, when Chinese officials often used social media platforms to directly and often colorfully respond to any criticism of China, but has since regained momentum as Beijing seeks to regain lost friendships among Western countries.
And in China, where anti-Japanese sentiment is already markedly high, state media and other prominent voices this week have further stoked anger over Gaoichi’s comments.
The Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily, accused Gao Shi of “recklessly shooting himself in the mouth” and warned that he “should not harbor any illusions that he can cross the line on the Taiwan issue without paying a price.”
A social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV asked: “Did she get kicked in the head by a donkey?”
Hu Xijin, a Chinese commentator and former editor-in-chief of the state-run tabloid Global Times, echoed diplomat Xue’s threat with a more violent warning.
“China’s fighting knife to decapitate invaders has been honed very sharply,” he said in a post on Tuesday. “If Japanese militarism wants to come to the Taiwan Strait and fall to our sword, we will make it happen.”
Takaichi said on Monday that his comments were “hypothetical” and that he would never make similar statements in the Diet again. But the prime minister is walking a tightrope that any Japanese leader would have had to balance.
China remains Japan’s largest trading partner, and Takaichi inherits a country facing increasing economic hardship. At the same time, Takaichi, like his mentor, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is known for his hard-line conservative views. She promoted strengthening Japan’s defense capabilities and criticized China’s growing military presence in the region.
This uneasy relationship was exposed when Takaichi met with Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in late October. Takaichi said afterwards that the two leaders agreed to build a “mutually beneficial strategic relationship.” But she also raised with Xi the critical issue of China’s activities in the East China Sea, including around islands claimed by both countries.
Mr. Takaichi’s stance toward Taiwan was clear even before he took office. She visited the island earlier this year and called for cooperation on “defense challenges,” which Beijing denounced at the time. He also met with Taiwanese representatives during the APEC summit, angering China once again.
The dispute comes in a year when relations between Japan and China are already strained due to Tokyo’s colonial and wartime past.
September marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, and the Chinese government commemorates this with a large-scale military parade. There is a long-standing historical hostility between the two countries. China was a key Allied partner and fought a full-scale Japanese invasion that ended only with the formal surrender of Tokyo in 1945.
The scars from that era are deep. Imperial Japanese forces murdered more than 200,000 unarmed men and civilians and raped and tortured tens of thousands of women and girls in an incident known as the Nanking Massacre, one of the most notorious wartime atrocities of the 20th century.
Ahead of the parade, Chinese officials stepped up their rhetoric, accusing Japan of fabricating history. Adding fuel to the fire, China has released at least four World War II films this year, including ones depicting the Nanjing Massacre and the sinking of Japanese ships.
Fearing a rise in anti-Japanese sentiment ahead of the parade, the Japanese embassy in Beijing warned its citizens to remain vigilant and avoid speaking Japanese loudly in public, presumably in response to a spate of violent attacks against Japanese nationals in China in recent years.
Taiwan is also involved in its complicated history.
This island was once a Japanese colony and was ceded by the Chinese Empire to the Japanese Empire. After Japan’s defeat in World War II, China’s ruling Kuomintang occupied Taiwan, but a few years later, after losing a bloody civil war with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), they defected to Taiwan and moved the seat of power to Taiwan.
The Chinese Communist Party now considers the autonomous island its own territory, even though it has never ruled it, and has vowed to seize it by force if necessary. Party leaders and state media have repeatedly argued that the end of World War II marked the island’s return to Chinese rule and freedom from Japanese occupation, but Chinese officials hinted at this view this week while criticizing Gaoichi.
Asked about Gaoichi’s comments on Wednesday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Chen Bin-hua said: “Japan has a historical responsibility to the Chinese people regarding the Taiwan issue, and committed unspeakable crimes during its 50 years of colonial rule over Taiwan.”
“Eighty years ago, we defeated the Japanese invaders, restored Taiwan, and ended their occupation and plunder,” he said.
Chen said that if “someone again challenges China’s core interests” or tries to obstruct unification with Taiwan, China “will never accept or tolerate it.”
