Japan will suffer a “crushing defeat” by the Chinese military if it tries to use force to intervene over Taiwan, China’s defence ministry said on Friday, ramping up the rhetoric over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about the island.
Takaichi sparked a diplomatic row with Beijing with comments in parliament last week that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could amount to a “survival-threatening situation” and trigger a military response from Tokyo.
China’s top diplomat in Osaka shared a news article about Takaichi’s remarks about Taiwan on X and commented “the dirty neck that sticks itself in must be cut off”, prompting a protest from Japan’s embassy in Beijing to Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong.
Chinese Defence Ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin said that Takaichi’s words were extremely irresponsible and dangerous.
“Should the Japanese side fail to draw lessons from history and dare to take a risk, or even use force to interfere in the Taiwan question, it will only suffer a crushing defeat against the steel-willed People’s Liberation Army and pay a heavy price,” Jiang said in a statement.
Sun summoned Japan’s Ambassador to China, Kenji Kanasugi, to lodge a “strong protest” over Takaichi’s remarks.
It was the first time in more than two years that Beijing has called in a Japanese ambassador. Sun last summoned then-ambassador Hideo Tarumi in August 2023 over Japan’s decision to release wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.
China’s foreign ministry on Friday also expressed “serious concerns” about Japan’s recent military and security moves, including ambiguity over its non-nuclear principles.
Japan’s decision not to rule out acquiring nuclear submarines indicates a major “negative” policy shift, ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a press conference.
LINGERING GRIEVANCES
Chinese state media has weighed in with a series of vitriolic editorials and commentaries lambasting Takaichi, given lingering grievances about Japan’s wartime past and China’s extreme sensitivity over anything Taiwan-related.
Takaichi’s remarks were by no means an “isolated political rant,” the Communist Party’s People’s Daily said earlier on Friday in a commentary.
Japan’s right wing has been trying to break free from the constraints of their post-World War Two constitution and pursue the status of a military power, said the commentary published under the pen name “Zhong Sheng”, meaning “Voice of China” and often used to give views on foreign policy.
“In recent years, Japan has been racing headlong down the path of military buildup,” the paper added.
“From frequent visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, to denying the Nanjing Massacre, to vigorously hyping the ‘China threat theory,’ Takaichi’s every step follows the old footprints of historical guilt, attempting to whitewash a history of aggression and revive militarism.”