Beijing warns Tokyo of ‘further action’ if Takaichi doesn’t budge on Taiwan stand
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday that Takaichi’s remarks had undermined the political foundation of China-Japan relations and China “has every reason to respond to such actions”.
“The Chinese side will be forced to take severe and resolute countermeasures, and the Japanese side will bear all the consequences arising from them,” Mao said.
“Japan should first retract these wrong statements and take concrete steps to uphold the political foundation of bilateral relations. Otherwise, China will be compelled to take further measures.”
Citing a government source, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported earlier that Beijing had told Tokyo it would suspend seafood imports just weeks after allowing them to resume.
Asked about the revived ban on Wednesday, Mao said Japan had failed to provide the technical materials it promised.
“Currently, even if the products are exported to China, there will be no market,” she said, without confirming that the ban had been reimposed.
Earlier this month, Japan shipped six tonnes of frozen scallops to China, the first shipment of its kind since 2023. Before the ban in 2023, China, including Hong Kong, accounted for more than a third of all Japan’s seafood exports, according to official data in 2022.
But hopes of further shipments have faded in the fallout from the row.
Beijing sees Takaichi’s statement as meddling in China’s internal affairs, and its demands that she retract the remarks have not been met.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including Japan and the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-ruled island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
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The seafood ban is unlikely to be the end of the matter.
Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account under state broadcaster CCTV, said on the weekend that China’s “substantive countermeasures” had been prepared. Those might include adding Japanese companies to an “unreliable entity list” or suspending intergovernmental exchanges in economic, diplomatic or military affairs, it said.
Already, Beijing has urged its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan, and the Ministry of Education has encouraged students to reconsider any plans to study there.
China is also Japan’s biggest trading partner, and one of the biggest recipients of investment from Japanese companies.
According to the Chinese foreign ministry, Liu Jinsong, the ministry’s Asian affairs department chief, told his Japanese counterpart, Masaaki Kanai, that Takaichi must retract her statement. Liu also said he was “very unsatisfied” with the talks.
In a commentary published on Wednesday, Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily said the withdrawal of the prime minister’s words and deeds was the “only correct approach” for Japan.