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.
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.