Chinese media and ordinary citizens expressed outrage Monday towards Japan, as an escalating diplomatic spat threatens to wreck relations strained by historical grievances and strategic rivalry.
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on November 7 that the use of force against self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims, could warrant a military response from Tokyo.
“What does our country’s unification have to do with them?” said 36-year-old Sun Gang, a Beijing restaurant industry worker, referring to China’s goal of taking Taiwan.
“It’s like someone interfering in your own family,” he told AFP.
China, which has not ruled out using force to take Taiwan, has reacted furiously to Takaichi’s comments, calling for her to retract the remarks and summoning the Japanese ambassador on Friday.
In a post on X on November 8, the Chinese consul general in Osaka, Xue Jian, threatened to “cut off that dirty neck”, apparently referring to Takaichi, who took office in October.
Tokyo said it had summoned the Chinese ambassador over the now-deleted social media post.
Japan occupied Taiwan for decades until 1945, when it was defeated in World War II.
On Friday, the Chinese embassy warned its citizens to avoid visiting Japan, citing “significant risks” to their safety.
“Recently, Japanese leaders have made blatantly provocative remarks regarding Taiwan, severely damaging the atmosphere for people-to-people exchanges,” the embassy wrote in a WeChat post.
– ‘Pay the price’ –
Condemnation has also raged online, with three of the top five trending topics on the social media platform Weibo related to the spat with Japan on Monday morning.
Official media have also ramped up criticism of Takaichi.
A Monday opinion piece in the ruling communist party’s official newspaper, People’s Daily, said: “Sanae Takaichi throwing around fallacious remarks about Taiwan is tantamount to reviving the spectre of militarism.
“This fully exposes the extremely wrong and dangerous historical… and strategic views of the right-wing forces in Japan,” it read, calling it a “dangerous shift in Japan’s strategic direction”.
A commentary by state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday said “if Sanae Takaichi refuses to repent, Japan will be eternally doomed”.
Despite the escalating rhetoric, Beijing tech-worker Daniel Feng called the Chinese government’s responses “very restrained” given Takaichi’s “extremely unreasonable” remarks.
“I very much support our government’s statements, including its condemnations,” the 40-year-old said.
“If she spouts words, that’s not a problem… but if they take real action, our country’s military will definitely defeat them.”
Beijing’s defence ministry warned on Friday that Japan would “pay a painful price” if it stepped into any conflict over Taiwan.
