Japan warns citizens in China over safety amid Taiwan row

TOKYO, November 19 ------ Japan has warned its citizens in China to be careful of their surroundings and to avoid big crowds amid a diplomatic row over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan.

The escalating spat has already seen Beijing advise Chinese citizens to avoid traveling to Japan and hit Tokyo stocks. “Pay attention to your surroundings and avoid as much as possible squares where large crowds gather, or places that are likely to be identified as being used by many Japanese people,” Tokyo’s embassy in China said in a statement on its website dated Monday.

Beijing on Tuesday vowed to “protect the safety” of foreigners in China but said it had reiterated a “strong protest” with Tokyo over Takaichi’s comments. The “Chinese government has always and will continue to protect the safety of foreign citizens in China in accordance with the law,” foreign ministry spokesman Mao Ning said.

Minoru Kihara, Japan’s top government spokesman, said on Tuesday that the embassy’s advice was issued “based on a comprehensive assessment of the political situation, including the security situation in the relevant country or region, as well as the social conditions.” The diplomatic feud between China and Japan was ignited by Takaichi’s suggestion that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan. China, which claims the self-governing democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to seize it, reacted furiously to Takaichi’s comments. It called for her to retract the remarks and summoned the Japanese ambassador.

In a post on X on Nov. 8, Xue Jian, the Chinese consul general in the central Japanese city of Osaka, threatened to “cut off that dirty neck,” apparently referring to Takaichi, who took office in October. Tokyo said it had summoned the Chinese ambassador over the now-deleted social media post. Seeking to defuse the row, Masaaki Kanai, the top official in the foreign ministry for Asia-Pacific affairs, held talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Liu Jinsong on Tuesday. “During the consultations, China once again lodged a strong protest with Japan regarding Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s erroneous remarks concerning China,” Mao said. “Takaichi’s fallacies seriously violate international law and the basic norms governing international relations,” she added, saying her comments “fundamentally damage the political foundation of China-Japan relations.”

Movies delayed, flights canceled

The Japanese Embassy warning also advised citizens to “respect local customs and be careful about your words and attitudes when interacting with local people.” “If you see a person or group that you feel suspicious of, stay away from it and leave the place immediately,” it said. It came as China Film News, which is supervised by the state-backed China Film Administration, said the release of imported Japanese movies “Crayon Shin-chan the Movie: Super-Hot! The Spicy Kasukabe Dancers” and “Cells at Work!” would be postponed.

The two movies were originally expected to be released on Dec. 6 and Nov. 22, respectively, review site Douban said. “Japan’s provocative comments will inevitably affect Chinese audiences’ perception of Japanese movies,” China Film News said in an article posted on WeChat on Monday.

Tokyo stocks fell more than 3 percent on Tuesday as the diplomatic spat weighed on sentiment. Japanese tourism and retail shares dived on Monday after China warned its citizens to avoid Japan, a tourist hotspot. Aviation analyst Li Hanming told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that around 500,000 tickets from China to Japan had been canceled since Nov. 15. In Tokyo’s upscale Ginza district on Tuesday, Hong Kong tourist Mike Lam said he hoped the two countries could resolve the dispute. “I hope we can all respect each other, so things can be better for Japan, for us Chinese, for Hong Kong — better for everyone,” said the 45-year-old.

Asia’s two top economies are closely entwined, with China the biggest source of tourists — almost 7.5 million visitors in the first nine months of 2025 — coming to Japan. Before taking power last month, Takaichi was a vocal critic of China and its military buildup in the Asia-Pacific. If a Taiwan emergency entails “battleships and the use of force, then that could constitute a situation threatening the survival (of Japan),” Takaichi, 64, told parliament on Nov. 7. Under Japan’s self-imposed rules, an existential threat is one of the few cases where it can act militarily.

Source: manilatimes.net