Diplomatic tensions between Japan and China escalated sharply this week after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned that a Chinese attempt to seize Taiwan could pose such a grave threat to Japan that it might be pulled into a broader conflict — a candid assessment that has drawn furious condemnation from Beijing.
China’s response grew more severe on Friday, when its Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Chinese citizens to avoid traveling to Japan and warned those already in the country to remain “extra vigilant,” claiming that Takaichi’s remarks jeopardize their safety. The move followed days of relentless criticism in which Chinese officials denounced the Japanese leader and demanded she stay out of what Beijing insists are internal Chinese affairs.
The dispute marks a striking downturn in relations just weeks after Takaichi — a conservative who became Japan’s prime minister last month — met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a regional summit in South Korea. Her directness on Taiwan appears to have upended attempts at even modest diplomatic stabilization.
The deterioration also comes at an inopportune moment for the United States. President Trump is simultaneously pursuing a trade agreement with China and working to strengthen ties with Japan and other regional allies. Washington now faces a situation in which two of its most consequential partners in Asia are caught in a rapidly intensifying war of words.
Tensions rose even further when China’s consul-general in Osaka posted an incendiary message on X, declaring that “the dirty neck” that “lunges at China should be cut off,” an unmistakable reference to Takaichi. The comment prompted a rare and pointed response from U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass, who wrote, “The mask slips—again,” and urged China to act like the responsible “good neighbor” it claims to be.
Relations between China and Japan have long been uneasy, shaped in part by Japan’s imperial past and Beijing’s belief that Tokyo has failed to sufficiently repent for its actions during the 1930s and 1940s. Japan, for its part, remains wary of China’s sweeping economic and military power.
Speaking before parliament on Nov. 7, Takaichi warned that any Chinese blockade of Taiwan — the self-governing island Beijing claims as its own — would “threaten Japan’s survival.” Under Japan’s constitution, which places strict limits on its military, the nation may still mobilize its armed forces if a crisis “threatening the nation’s existence” emerges.
Takaichi stated, “If it involves the use of warships and the exercise of force, I believe this is a case that could unquestionably constitute a crisis threatening the nation’s existence.” She also reaffirmed Japan’s long-held view that issues involving Taiwan should be resolved peacefully.
Beijing reacted with hostility. Chinese state media accused Takaichi of steering Japan toward the “militarism” of the past, and officials labeled her remarks “extremely egregious” and “blatantly provocative.” The rhetoric evokes China’s once-prominent “wolf warrior” diplomacy that Beijing had attempted to soften in recent years. China has demanded a retraction, which Takaichi has not issued.
Yet analysts say her remarks reflect the strategic reality Japan faces should tensions over Taiwan disrupt sea lanes essential to its economy. As William Chou of the conservative-leaning Hudson Institute observed, “What Takaichi has done is say the quiet part out loud.”
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