Japan’s PM defends Taiwan stance after Beijing diplomat issues social media threat

Singapore: Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi has stood by her view suggesting that Japan could become involved in a Chinese military conflict over Taiwan, after a Chinese diplomat responded with a violent statement on social media.

Takaichi went further than her predecessors in discussing Japan’s potential response to a Taiwan crisis last week, when she characterised a scenario of China using military force against the island as one that could amount to a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan.

Under Japan’s security laws, a “survival-threatening situation” is a designation that enables the country to deploy its self-defence forces.

Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi has canvassed Japan’s potential involvement in a Chinese-initiated conflict over Taiwan.Credit: AP

Her comments sparked a furious backlash from Beijing, which claims self-governing Taiwan as China’s territory and has not ruled out using force to “reunify” it with the mainland. The most hostile response was issued by China’s Consul General in Osaka, Xue Jian.

“We have no choice but to cut off that dirty neck that has lunged at us without a moment’s hesitation. Are you ready?,” Xue wrote in a post on social media website X on Saturday as he shared a link to a Japanese media report with Takaichi’s comments.

The post was subsequently deleted. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said on Monday that Japan had lodged a formal protest over the post.

“Although the intention of the post is unclear, it must be said that the wording was very inappropriate for the leader of a Chinese consulate,” Kihara said.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Japan had lodged a formal protest over the post.Credit: AP

Asked about the post at a press conference in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said it was a “personal post” and described it as “a response to the wrongful and dangerous remarks that attempt to separate Taiwan from China.”

He criticised attempts by Japanese media and politicians to “deliberately hype the post” and denounced Takaichi for sending “the wrong signal to Taiwan independent forces” and meddling in China’s affairs.

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Takaichi did not walk back her remarks when asked in the Diet, Japan’s national parliament, to clarify her position on the matter on Monday.

“Although I did state a number of possible scenarios, I also said the government will make a comprehensive judgment on whether the situation constitutes a ‘survival-threatening situation’ taking into account all information,” Takaichi said.

Takaichi, a staunch conservative and national security hawk, has irritated Beijing with her history of pro-Taiwan stances. Last month, she posted a photo of herself shaking hands with Taiwan’s former vice premier Lin Hsin-i on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, prompting a protest from Beijing.

In her initial remarks in the Diet last week, where she was responding to an opposition question about Japan’s contingency plans for a Taiwan conflict, Takaichi canvassed a scenario where China could deploy military force such as through a naval blockade.

“No matter how you think about it, it could constitute a survival-threatening situation,” Takaichi said on Friday.

“Simply lining up civilian ships to make passage difficult would not be a survival-threatening situation,” she said. “If it is a wartime blockade, with drones flying and various other developments, then the situation could be seen differently.”

Her comments depart from the usual vague language that Japan’s leaders have traditionally adopted when broaching the topic of conflict in the Taiwan Strait. After leaving office, former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who Takaichi cites as her political mentor, said “a Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency, and therefore an emergency for the Japan-US alliance.”

Japan’s westernmost island of Yonaguni is only about 100 kilometres from Taiwan, and the US maintains military bases on nearby Okinawa island.

US Ambassador to Japan George Glass weighed into the controversy over Xue’s post on Monday.

“The mask slips - again. Just a few months ago, (Xue) compared Israel with Nazi Germany. Now, he threatens Prime Minister (Takaichi) and the Japanese people,” he posted on X.

“Time for Beijing to behave like the “good neighbour” it talks repeatedly about - but fails repeatedly to become.”

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