China’s ambassador to the United Nations used a Security Council meeting on Dec. 15 to try to pressure Japan into retracting Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent remarks regarding Taiwan, stirring up already existing tensions between the two countries.
In response to lawmakers’ questions on Nov. 7 about Japan’s defense posture in a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan, Takaichi said naval conflicts would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Under a 2015 law enacted by late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a survival-threatening situation would trigger Japanese military actions.
Takaichi’s remarks, and a since-deleted response on X by Xue Jian, China’s Consul General in Osaka, that said, “The filthy head that recklessly sticks itself in must be cut off without a moment’s hesitation,” fed an ongoing feud between Japan and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which involves a war of words, the CCP’s boycott of Japanese seafood and tourism, and Chinese coast guard patrols near Japan….
China, Japan Clash at UN in Ongoing Feud Over Taiwan
