China recommends that its citizens avoid travel to Japan, amid tensions following comments by the Japanese Prime Minister referring to possible Japanese military intervention to defend Taiwan, which is claimed by Beijing.
“Recently, Japanese leaders openly made provocative statements regarding Taiwan, which seriously damaged the climate of people-to-people exchanges”the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo said on social media late Friday. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chinese embassies and consulates in Japan solemnly remind Chinese citizens to avoid traveling to Japan in the near future”added a press release, mentioning “significant risk” for their safety.
“We have to consider the worst case scenario”
On November 7, Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told the Japanese Parliament that an emergency situation in Taiwan was involved “the deployment of warships and the use of force, this could pose a threat to Japan’s survival”. “We have to consider the worst case scenario”he added.
The comments were widely interpreted as an indication that an attack on Taiwan could justify Tokyo’s military support for the island. Under its own rules, Japan can only intervene militarily under certain conditions, especially in the event of a real threat. However, the country is only a hundred kilometers from the Japanese island of Taiwan, over which Beijing claims sovereignty, and has threatened to use force to place the island under its control.
The threat was “grossly inappropriate.”
The Taiwan issue has become increasingly sensitive between Beijing and Tokyo since Japan took over the island in 1895 to the detriment of the Chinese Empire, before returning it in 1945 to the Chinese government at the time.
On Friday, Beijing announced that it had summoned the Japanese ambassador, assessing “very serious” Sanae Takaichi’s statement. Japan, for its part, said it had done the same against the Chinese ambassador, following threats “very inappropriate” from the Chinese Consul General in Osaka, Xue Jian. In since-deleted messages from X, he threatened to do so “Cut off that filthy head without the slightest hesitation”citing the article reporting Ms Takaichi’s intervention.
Tokyo on Friday reiterated that its position on Taiwan remains in place “do not change” and recommended “peace and stability”. On Saturday, following China’s warning to its citizens, Japanese Government Secretary-General Minoru Kihara regretted the recommendation. “as opposed to enhancing strategic and mutually beneficial relationships” between Tokyo and Beijing, according to the Jiji Press news agency.
Reimbursement of flight costs to Japan
China’s top airline announced on Saturday that it was offering its customers full refunds for their flights to Japan, following calls from Beijing to avoid the country, amid a diplomatic crisis over Taiwan.
Air China, China Southern and China Eastern all issued separate statements to publicize the move, which allows ticket holders between Saturday and December 31 to change their travel plans for free or receive a refund.
