China on Thursday issued a stark warning to Japan, demanding that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi retract her recent remarks about the possibility of military intervention should Beijing impose a blockade on Taiwan.
Why It Matters
China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has repeatedly stated that unification with the self-ruled island is inevitable—by force, if necessary. The People’s Liberation Army has in recent years ratcheted up pressure on Taiwan, including large-scale military exercises that simulate a blockade.
Rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait and China’s military buildup have worried Japan. In 2015, The U.S. defense treaty ally moved to reinterpret its pacifist postwar constitution to allow for “collective self-defense” alongside U.S. forces if a conflict were deemed an existential threat.
Newsweek reached out to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. State Department by email with requests for comment.
What To Know
During a Chinese Foreign Ministry press conference Thursday, spokesperson Lin Jian sharply criticized Takaichi’s comments on possible military intervention, calling them “openly provocative.”
“Japan must immediately correct its mistakes and withdraw these egregious remarks, otherwise all consequences will be borne by Japan,” Lin said.
Lin reiterated Beijing’s position that “Taiwan is China’s Taiwan” and said, “How the Taiwan issue is resolved and how national reunification is achieved is China’s own affair, not subject to interference by any outside force.”
“If Japan dares to militarily intervene in the Taiwan Strait situation, it will constitute an act of aggression, and China will deliver a head-on and severe blow,” he added.
Lin also questioned whether Japan was seeking a repeat imperial past, referencing the country’s military expansion in China and across the region in the 1930s and 1940s.
Speaking to parliament on Friday, Takaichi, who took office last month, said a Chinese blockade of Taiwan would likely be intended to keep U.S. forces from intervening. She argued that the use of force by Chinese warships would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan—one that could justify a response by the Self-Defense Forces. Takaichi declined to retract her remarks when pressed by an opposition lawmaker on Monday.
Takaichi’s comments prompted a fierce response from China’s consul general in Osaka, Xue Jian, who in a now-deleted X post appeared to threaten to decapitate the prime minister.
The post sparked a political firestorm. Japan’s Foreign Ministry lodged a diplomatic protest with Beijing, while Japanese lawmakers and social media users called for Xue to be declared persona non grata and expelled from the country.
What People Are Saying
Hu Xijin, a prominent commentator and former editor of the nationalist Global Times newspaper, wrote on X: “If Japan dares to expel Chinese diplomats, China will inevitably retaliate. Well then, Sanae Takaichi is an evil witch; she has successfully ignited a new explosion of mutual hatred between Chinese and Japanese public opinion.”
What Happens Next
Takaichi, who has described China as an “important neighbor,” faces the challenge of managing relations with China, one of Japan’s top economic partners, while contending with ongoing friction over a number of issues, from a territorial standoff in the East China Sea and lingering resentment over Imperial Japan’s occupation of swathes of Chinese territory.
In a recent CBS 60 Minutes interview, President Donald Trump said Chinese leader Xi Jinping had promised him he would not take military action against Taiwan, adding only that “they know the consequences,” without elaborating on what a U.S. response might entail.
