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Threat to ‘cut off’ Japanese PM's head, stern reply warned: Why is China miffed with Japan?
China and Japan face their worst diplomatic clash in years, following remarks from Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi regarding Taiwan
China and Japan are engaged in what reports said is their worst diplomatic clash in years - sparking travel advisories for citizens and massively affecting trade as well as tourism - following newly sworn in Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi remark on Taiwan.
The trigger for the diplomatic clash between Japan and China's is being attributed to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi remarks before lawmakers this month that a Chinese attack on Taiwan threatening Japan's survival could trigger a military response.
Post the remarks, China urged its citizens not to travel to Japan due to the diplomatic dispute, while a Tokyo-based tour operator - East Japan International Travel Service - said it had lost 80 per cent of its bookings for the remainder of the year, reported Reuters.
In a fresh development, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday that China will have to take stern and resolute countermeasures if Japan refuses to withdraw the remarks and continues to make mistakes, Reuters reported.
The China-Taiwan issue revolves around Beijing insists that the latter, which Japan occupied for decades until 1945, is part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to seize control.
What did Japanese PM say
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi became the first sitting Japanese leader in decades to publicly connect a Taiwan Strait crisis with the possible deployment of Japanese troops.
Takaichi told parliament on November 7 that use of force against the self-ruled island claimed by China could trigger a military response from Tokyo and warrant sending troops to the island "collective self-defence".
If an emergency in Taiwan entails "battleships and the use of force, then that could constitute a situation threatening the survival (of Japan), any way you slice it", AFP news agency quoted Takaichi as saying.
The remarks drew swift retaliation from China, which warned of more. China on Monday advised its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan.
On Friday, Beijing had said that it had summoned Japan's ambassador, while Tokyo said it had summoned China's ambassador after an "inappropriate" and now-removed online post.
Threat to ‘cut off’ Japan PM's head
Amid the diplomatic back-and-forth Japan had said its diplomat Masaaki Kanai on Tuesday reiterated that the country's position on Taiwan remains unchanged.
The statement came after a meeting a meeting between Kanai and Liu Jinsong, director-general of the Chinese foreign ministry's asian affairs department. Jinsong had said he was "dissatisfied" with the outcome of his meeting with Kanai on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported, citing a report by Chinese news outlet The Paper.
Kanai also slammed what he described as "extremely inappropriate statements" made by Xue Jian, China's consul general in Osaka recently.
Osaka had threatened to cut off Takaichi's head in a now-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter.
Kanai, who is the director general of the Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau, demanded immediate action against the diplomat.
Fallout of China-Japan tensions
China and Japan's relations revolve around key trading ties and historical mistrust and friction over territorial rivalries parallelly, with military spending often testing the fragile bonds.
Takaichi, a conservative who is known to be a China hawk.
The tensions between China and Japan has hit trade, with Beijing's travel warning sparking a sharp selloff in Japan's biggest tourism and retail stocks before they recovered some of their losses, according to a Reuters report, which cited people familiar with the matter.
State-owned firms have advised employees to avoid travel to Japan, with some investment groups, banks, brokerages and other companies sending cautionary messages to staff this week, the above-mentioned people said.
There are concerns that China could use trade as a weapon as it has done in the past during disputes with Japan, Australia, South Korea and others, the report mentioned.
Tokyo-based tour operator East Japan International Travel Service has reportedly lost 80 per cent of its bookings for the remainder of the year.
"This is a huge loss for us," Reuters quoted as saying Yu Jinxin, vice president of East Japan International Travel Service, a small firm which specialises in group tours and caters mostly to Chinese clients.
Around seven per cent of Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) comes from tourism.
(With inputs from Reuters, Bloomberg and AFP)
