Japan will suffer ‘crushing defeat’ if it tries to intervene over Taiwan, China military says
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Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had said a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BEIJING – Japan will suffer a “crushing defeat” by the Chinese military if it tries to use force to intervene over Taiwan, China’s Defence Ministry said on Nov 14, ramping up the rhetoric over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about the island.
Ms Takaichi sparked a diplomatic row with Beijing with remarks in Parliament last week that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could amount to a “survival-threatening situation” and trigger a military response from Tokyo.
China’s top diplomat in Osaka shared a news article on Ms Takaichi’s remarks about Taiwan on X and commented that “the dirty neck that sticks itself in must be cut off”, prompting a protest from Japan’s Embassy in Beijing
Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Jiang Bin said that Ms Takaichi’s words were extremely irresponsible and dangerous.
“Should the Japanese side fail to draw lessons from history and dare to take a risk, or even use force to interfere in the Taiwan question, it will only suffer a crushing defeat against the steel-willed People’s Liberation Army and pay a heavy price,” Mr Jiang said in a statement.
On Nov 13, Mr Sun summoned Japan’s Ambassador to China
Mr Sun last summoned former ambassador Hideo Tarumi in August 2023 over Japan’s decision to release wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.
China’s Foreign Ministry on Nov 14 also expressed “serious concerns” about Japan’s recent military and security moves, including ambiguity over its non-nuclear principles. Japan’s decision not to rule out acquiring nuclear submarines indicates a major “negative” policy shift, ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press conference.
Lingering grievances
Chinese state media has since weighed in with a series of vitriolic editorials and commentaries
Ms Takaichi’s remarks were by no means an “isolated political rant”, the Communist Party of China’s People’s Daily said earlier on Nov 14 in a commentary.
Japan’s right wing has been trying to break free from the constraints of the country’s post-World War II Constitution and pursue the status of a military power, said the commentary published under the pen name Zhong Sheng, meaning “Voice of China” and often used to give views on foreign policy.
“In recent years, Japan has been racing headlong down the path of military build-up,” the paper added. “From frequent visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, to denying the Nanjing Massacre, to vigorously hyping the ‘China threat theory’, Takaichi’s every step follows the old footprints of historical guilt, attempting to whitewash a history of aggression and revive militarism.”
The 2.5 million war dead honoured at the Yasukuni Shrine include 14 Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal after World War II. Visits by Japanese politicians to the shrine frequently anger China.
World War II, and the Japanese invasion of China which preceded it in 1931, remains a source of ongoing tension between Beijing and Tokyo.
Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out using force to take control of the island. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s claims and says only its people can decide the island’s future.
Taiwan sits just over 110km from Japanese territory, and the waters around the island provide a vital sea route for trade that Tokyo depends on.
Japan also hosts the largest contingent of the US military abroad.
Meanwhile, Japanese broadcaster NTV reported on Nov 14 that the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo had instructed its staff to avoid going out due to concerns about rising anti-China sentiment.
In a regular news conference, Japan’s top government spokesperson Minoru Kihara reiterated the country’s position on Taiwan, telling reporters that Tokyo hopes for peaceful resolution of the issue through dialogue.
Cranked-up rhetoric
China has also cranked up its rhetoric against what it calls “diehard” Taiwan independence separatists.
On Nov 14, the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office criticised Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Puma Shen, who visited Berlin earlier in the week. Mr Shen said China was threatening to try to get him arrested while abroad, but that he was not frightened.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, the office’s spokesman Chen Binhua said: “Taiwan independence advocates are already at the dusk of their days and at a dead end.”
A day earlier, Chinese police issued a wanted notice and offered a US$35,000 (S$45,500) reward for two Taiwanese social media influencers they accused of “separatism”.
The two influencers took to social media to poke fun at the wanted notice. One of them, rapper Mannam PYC, posted a video on Nov 14 where he tried to turn himself in to police in Taiwan.
“Why won’t the Taiwan police arrest me? Does that mean everyone supports Taiwan independence?” he wrote sarcastically.
China’s legal system has no authority or jurisdiction in Taiwan. REUTERS
