In the end, there was no honeymoon period.
Just two weeks ago, Japan’s new prime minister Sanae Takaichi was shaking hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Now, relations between the two Asian nations have dramatically soured, with escalating nationalist rhetoric in China and even an apparent threat of beheading from one of its diplomats.
Takaichi, who was elected as Japan’s first female prime minister just last month, has become embroiled in a growing row with Beijing over Taiwan – the democratic island that China’s ruling Communist Party claims as its own, and a red line it has warned other countries not to cross.
The furor began when Takaichi told the Japanese parliament on November 7 that a Chinese attack on Taiwan – which lies just 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Japanese territory – would count as “a situation threatening Japan’s survival” and could trigger a military response from Tokyo.
Beijing has not ruled out using force to take control of the island and has ramped up the frequency and complexity of its military drills around Taiwan in recent years.
Previous Japanese leaders have avoided discussing Taiwan in the context of a military response. And Washington deliberately remains vague on how it would respond to a hypothetical invasion, a policy known as “strategic ambiguity.”
Wading into the thorny issue of Taiwan’s defense has gotten other world leaders in hot water with Beijing before. Former US President Joe Biden set off a diplomatic panic during his time in office when he said multiple times that the United States would be willing to intervene militarily if China attacked Taiwan – forcing the White House to repeatedly walk back his comments, and sparking anger each time in Beijing.
Takaichi’s remarks were met with an even more vehement response.
“The dirty neck that sticks itself in must be cut off,” wrote the Chinese consul general in Osaka, Xue Jian, in a post on X that has since been deleted.
The fallout has spiraled since, with Japan criticizing Xue’s “extremely inappropriate” post and Taiwan voicing concern about Xue’s “threatening” remarks, according to Reuters.
Beijing, meanwhile, has defended its position and Xue’s comments.
A spokesperson from China’s foreign ministry on Monday accused Japan of “grossly interfering with China’s internal affairs,” saying Xue’s post was simply responding to Takaichi’s “erroneous and dangerous remarks.”
For some, the controversy harks back to China’s “wolf warrior” diplomacy – an aggressive style of foreign policy that emerged in the early 2020s, which often saw Chinese officials take to social media platforms to hit back directly – and often colorfully – at any criticism of China, but has since been dialed back as Beijing looked to win back lost goodwill among Western nations.
And within China, where there is already significant streak of anti-Japanese sentiment, state media and other prominent voices this week have further fanned outrage over Takaichi’s statement.
Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily condemned Takaichi as “recklessly shooting her mouth off,” and warning: “No one should harbor any illusion that they can cross the line on the Taiwan issue without paying a price.”
A social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV asked: “Has her head been kicked by a donkey?”
Hu Xijin, a Chinese pundit and former editor-in-chief of the state-run tabloid Global Times, offered a more violent warning, echoing the threats from the diplomat Xue.
“China’s battle blade for beheading invaders has been sharpened to a very keen edge,” he wrote in a post on Tuesday. “If Japanese militarism wishes to come to the Taiwan Strait to sacrifice themselves on our blades, we will fulfill them.”
A tangled relationship
Takaichi said Monday that her comments were “hypothetical,” and said she would avoid making similar comments in parliament again. But the prime minister is walking a tightrope every Japanese leader has had to balance.
China remains Japan’s largest trading partner, and Takaichi inherited a country facing mounting economic woes. At the same time, Takaichi is known for her hardline conservative views, like her mentor former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She has pushed to strengthen Japan’s defense capacity and criticized Beijing’s growing military presence in the region.
This uneasy relationship was on display when Takaichi met Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in late October. The two leaders agreed to build a “strategic mutually beneficial relationship,” Takaichi said afterward; however, she also raised with Xi the hot-button issue of China’s activity in the East China Sea, including around islands claimed by both countries.
Even before she took office, Takaichi’s stance on Taiwan was clear. She visited the island earlier this year and called for cooperation on “defense challenges,” which Beijing condemned at the time. During the APEC summit, she also met with Taiwan’s representative, again angering China.
The current spat comes during a year when Japan-China relations are already strained, in part because of Tokyo’s colonial and war-time past.
September marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, which Beijing commemorated with a massive military parade. There’s longstanding historical hostility between the two countries; China was a crucial Allied partner, fighting against Japan’s full-scale invasion that ended only with Tokyo’s formal surrender in 1945.
The scars of that era run deep. Japanese Imperial troops killed more than 200,000 unarmed men and civilians, and raped and tortured tens of thousands of women and girls, in what is known as the Nanjing Massacre – one of the most notorious wartime atrocities of the 20th century.
Ahead of the parade, Chinese officials ramped up their rhetoric and accused Japan of whitewashing history. Adding fuel to the fire, China also released at least four WWII films this year, including some that depict the Nanjing Massacre and the sinking of a Japanese vessel.
Fearing a spike in anti-Japanese sentiment ahead of the parade, the Japanese embassy in Beijing warned its citizens to stay cautious and avoid speaking Japanese loudly in public – perhaps mindful that in recent years, there has been a spate of violent attacks against Japanese nationals in China.
That complex history involves Taiwan, too.
The island was once a Japanese colony that Imperial China had ceded to Imperial Japan. After Japan was defeated in WWII, China’s ruling Nationalists took control of Taiwan – then, several years later, fled to the island and moved their seat of government there after losing a bloody civil war to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Today, the CCP views the self-ruling island as its own territory, despite never having controlled it, and has vowed to seize it by force if necessary. Party leaders and state media have repeatedly claimed that the end of WWII marked the island’s return to Chinese rule and liberation from Japanese occupation – a view Chinese officials alluded to this week as they berated Takaichi.
“Japan holds historical responsibility towards the Chinese people regarding the Taiwan issue, having committed unmentionable crimes during the 50 years of colonial rule over Taiwan,” said Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, on Wednesday when asked about Takaichi’s comments.
“Eighty years ago, we defeated the Japanese aggressors, restored Taiwan, and ended their occupation and plunder,” he said.
“Should anyone again attempt to challenge China’s core interests” or thwart reunification with Taiwan, Chen said, Beijing “will never accept or tolerate it.”
CNN’s Hanako Montgomery contributed to this report.
