It’s no secret that Japan and China have had a long history of animosity, which at times appears to cool but at others flares up to intensity again. The past week has seen historic tensions explode to the forefront once again, resulting in China summoning the Japanese ambassador in Beijing to vehemently denounce some recent statements by Tokyo leadership.
The spat started when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made comments in a parliamentary meeting which made clear Japan could possibly intervene militarily in the scenario of China invading Taiwan.
This represents a public first, and potential initial move abandoning the US ally’s longstanding ‘strategic ambiguity’ on the Taiwan issue.
China’s foreign ministry had been quick to blast the comments as “egregious” – related in the following:
The current tensions were sparked at a parliamentary meeting in Japan last Friday, when an opposition lawmaker asked Takaichi what circumstances surrounding Taiwan would count as a survival-threatening situation for Japan.
“If there are battleships and the use of force, no matter how you think about it, it could constitute a survival-threatening situation,” Takaichi responded.
A “survival-threatening situation” is a legal term under Japan’s 2015 security law, referring to when an armed attack on its allies poses an existential threat to Japan. In such a situation, Japan’s self-defense forces can be activated to respond to the threat.
Now, a week after the initial provocative remarks, and China has further escalated the spat by formally advising its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan in the near future over ‘safety concerns’.
The foreign ministry specifically invoked PM Takaichi’s incendiary Taiwan-related comments, going so far as to say her words created “major risks” to the safety of Chinese nationals in Japan. The ministry further cited “a surge in crimes against Chinese citizens and numerous attacks against them.”
The NY Times reviews how this could set off deteriorating relations less than a month in to Takaichi taking office:
The abuse abruptly ended a honeymoon between Ms. Takaichi, in office for less than a month, and China. She had met China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, just last month in South Korea, with the two leaders warmly shaking hands and smiling.
It also ended China’s turn away from so-called wolf warrior diplomacy, an aggressive, in-your-face approach to foreign relations that took shape after Mr. Xi rose to power in Beijing in 2012 but had largely faded in recent years.
Relations between China and Japan have for decades been prone to intemperate feuds fueled largely by bitter Chinese memories of World War II, when the Japanese army committed multiple atrocities, including the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, crimes for which Beijing believes Tokyo has never sufficiently apologized.
The drastic move further followed a Thursday social media posting by China’s foreign ministry – issued in Japanese and English – which warned Tokyo must “stop playing with fire” and that it would be “act of aggression” if Japan “dares to meddles in the cross-Strait situation.“
Our message to Japan is clear: Japan must fully repent for its war crimes, immediately stop its wrong and provocative statements and moves that interfere in China’s internal affairs, and stop playing with fire on the Taiwan question. Those who play with fire will perish by it! pic.twitter.com/F0G6FvU6qD
— CHINA MFA Spokesperson 中国外交部发言人 (@MFA_China) November 13, 2025
As for Japan, it has been most angered at a social media post issued last Saturday by China’s consul general in the Japanese city of Osaka, Xue Jian. He had shared article about Takaichi’s parliamentary remarks on X with his own words, “the dirty head that sticks itself in must be cut off.” Tokyo quickly lodged its own diplomatic protest over the “high inappropriate” commentary.
But China has still maintained all of this ultimately stems from the “extremely wrong and dangerous” words of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi related to defending Taiwan.
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