Overview
- China’s foreign ministry ordered Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to withdraw her Taiwan comments and warned Japan would “bear all consequences” if it does not.
- Spokesman Lin Jian said any Japanese military role in a Taiwan Strait conflict would constitute aggression and vowed China would strike back decisively.
- Takaichi told parliament last week that a Chinese assault on Taiwan could meet the legal threshold for collective self‑defense by Japan’s Self‑Defense Forces, and Tokyo has not retracted the formulation.
- Hostile rhetoric from state‑linked Chinese outlets escalated, and China’s consul general in Osaka drew outrage with a violent metaphor he later deleted as Japanese politicians pressed for his expulsion.
- Beijing also condemned Japan’s award of the Order of the Rising Sun to Taiwanese figure Hsieh Chang‑ting, and the G7 voiced concern over China’s military build‑up while opposing unilateral changes to the Taiwan Strait status quo.