Japan will suffer a “crushing defeat” at the hands of the Chinese military if it tries to use force to intervene in TaiwanThe Chinese Defense Ministry said Friday, ratcheting up rhetoric over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about the island.
Tokyo summoned Beijing’s ambassador to Japan on Friday to protest a senior Chinese diplomat’s online comment about Takaichi. thus continuing a pulse that has already lasted a week.
Last week, Takaichi sparked a diplomatic row with Beijing by commenting in Parliament that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could create a “survival-threatening situation.”” and trigger a military response from Tokyo.
On Saturday, China’s Consul General in Osaka, Xue Jian, shared an article on social media site X about Takaichi’s comments about Taiwan, commenting that “the dirty meddling neck needs to be cut” in a later deleted post.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry retaliated and summoned the Chinese ambassador over what it called Xue’s “extremely inappropriate” remarks. Some senior Japanese political figures called for his expulsion, but Tokyo has so far limited itself to asking Beijing to “take appropriate measures”, without giving more details.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Jiang Bin stated that Takaichi’s words are extremely irresponsible and dangerous.
“If the Japanese side does not learn the lessons of history and dare to take risks or even use force to interfere in the Taiwan issue, will only suffer a crushing defeat against the People’s Liberation Army, which has an iron will, and will pay a heavy price,” Jiang said in a statement.
On Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned Japan’s ambassador to China to lodge a “strong protest” by Takaichi’s statements.
