The diplomatic clash between China and Japan has not subsided following the statements of the Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, who last November 7 evoked a possible military intervention if Taiwan is invaded. Beijing has advised its citizens to avoid traveling to the Land of the Rising Sun, whose stock exchange has suffered the blow. Tokyo, for its part, has invited Japanese people in China to exercise maximum caution and avoid gatherings.
“Pay attention to your surroundings and avoid as much as possible squares where large crowds gather, or places that could be identified as frequented by many Japanese,” the Japanese embassy in China said in a statement published yesterday on its website, which also invites people to “pay attention to their words and attitudes when interacting with local people”. The Dragon reacted with a promise to “protect the safety” of foreigners in China but lodged a new “strong protest” over Takaichi’s comments.
Minoru Kihara, a Japanese government spokesman, said the embassy’s opinion was issued “based on a comprehensive assessment of the political situation, including the security situation in the country or region in question, as well as social conditions.”
China considers Taiwan part of its territory and does not rule out using force to take control of the island, which governs itself democratically. And the reactions were not limited to the summoning of the Japanese ambassador and the request that Takaichi retract his statements. Xue Jian, Chinese consul general in Osaka, in a post published on The message, later deleted, in turn led Tokyo to summon the Chinese ambassador.
In an attempt to defuse the dispute, Masaaki Kanai, a senior official at Japan’s Foreign Ministry for Asia-Pacific Affairs, met with his Chinese counterpart Liu Jinsong in Beijing today. “During the consultations, China again firmly protested against Japan” for Takaichi’s “erroneous statements,” said Beijing Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.
“Takaichi’s beliefs seriously violate international law and fundamental norms governing international relations,” said Mao, who said the comments on Taiwan “fundamentally damage the political foundation of China-Japan relations.” Relations that are already suffering damage on the economic, as well as diplomatic, front. The Tokyo stock market lost more than 3% due to the collapse of the tourism sector.
About 500,000 tickets from China to Japan have been canceled since November 15, according to Li Hanming, an aviation industry analyst. The clash even affected the release of two Japanese films – «Crayon Shin-chan the Movie: Super Hot! The Spicy Kasukabe Dancers” and “Cells at Work!” – whose release in China, expected in the next few weeks, has been postponed.