Beijing — China has warned its citizens against traveling to Japan as it escalates a backlash over comments by the country’s prime minister about the island of Taiwan.
Recent “blatantly provocative remarks on Taiwan” have “further damaged the atmosphere for people-to-people exchanges… creating additional risks to the safety and security of Chinese citizens in Japan,” a statement published by the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Friday.
The ministry and its missions “remind Chinese citizens to refrain from visiting Japan for the time being,” it said.
The move is Beijing’s latest show of outrage in a roughly week-long row after Takaichi, in response to a question in Japan’s parliament, said that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would count as “a situation threatening Japan’s survival,” and thus could trigger a military response from Tokyo.
Beijing views the self-governing democracy of Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to take control of the island, by force if necessary. For Beijing, Taiwan’s sovereignty is the most sensitive issue in its relations with other nations – a “red line” not to be crossed.
China’s Ministry of Defense on Friday separately warned that Japan would “suffer a crushing defeat” if it dared to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait.
