BEIJING(National times)- Less than a month into her term, Japan\u2019s conservative leader has stirred tensions with China by suggesting a Chinese move against Taiwan could prompt a Japanese military response. China objects to the involvement of other countries in Taiwan, notably the United States, which is the main supplier of weapons to the self-governing island. Beijing claims it as its own and says it must come under its control. It says it\u2019s a domestic issue and \u201ca red line\u201d that others should not cross. Speaking to a parliamentary committee, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Nov. 7. that a Chinese naval blockade or other action against Taiwan could be grounds for a Japanese military response. Her comments were stronger than those of her predecessors. Previous prime ministers have expressed concern about China\u2019s threat to Taiwan but haven\u2019t publicly said how Japan would respond. Takaichi later refused to retract her remarks but told the same parliamentary committee three days later that she would avoid talking about specific scenarios in the future. Japan\u2019s new leader is a longtime supporter of Taiwan. She views China as a growing threat and has ordered an acceleration of plans to boost Japan\u2019s military spending. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Friday that Japan\u2019s position on Taiwan has not changed. Takaichi\u2019s comments caused an uproar in China, with the foreign and defense ministries, the Taiwan Affairs Office and state media all weighing in. Her remarks came as a surprise because tensions over Taiwan were not particularly high, said Wang Huiyao, the president of the Center for China and Globalization, a think tank in Beijing. \u201cWe can\u2019t just let the prime minister speak so openly at parliament,\u201d he said. One of the first to speak out was China\u2019s consul general in Osaka, who said in a now-deleted social media post that China has no choice but to cut off an intruding \u201cdirty neck.\u201d Motegi called the post \u201cextremely inappropriate.\u201d China\u2019s Foreign Ministry called in Japan\u2019s ambassador on Thursday to warn against any interference in Taiwan. The next day, Japan\u2019s Foreign Ministry summoned China\u2019s ambassador in Tokyo to complain about the social media post. On Friday night, China took aim at Japan\u2019s tourism economy. It issued a notification advising against travel to Japan. About 7.5 million Chinese tourists visited in the first nine months of this year, the largest number from any country and about one-fourth of the total. China\u2019s Education Ministry followed up with a warning to students on Sunday about recent crimes against Chinese in Japan, though it didn\u2019t advise them not to go. Also on Sunday, China\u2019s coast guard announced that it was patrolling the waters around a group of uninhabited islands that both countries claim. Japan criticized an incident in which a fleet of four Chinese coast guard ships briefly violated Japanese territorial waters around the islands Sunday. On Monday, Mao Ning, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told reporters that Premier Li Qiang \u201chas no arrangement to meet with the Japanese leader\u201d during the upcoming Group of 20 summit in South Africa. A bigger concern for Japan would be if China were to restrict the export of rare earth magnets, vital components in auto manufacturing and other industries. There was no immediate indication China was considering it. Japanese officials are trying to calm the waters. Motegi said he planned to ask China to make \u201can appropriate response\u201d to prevent a major impact on relations. On Monday, Japan dispatched a senior diplomat to Beijing for talks with Chinese Foreign Ministry officials in an apparent move to calm the situation, but no details have been released. Japan\u2019s position is complicated by its post-World War II constitution, which bans its use of force except for defending its territory \u2014 the military is called the Self-Defense Force. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe succeeded in expanding the military\u2019s mandate by winning parliamentary approval in 2015 of a law that would allow Japan to come to the aid of an ally \u2014 most likely the U.S. \u2014 in a conflict that is determined to be an existential threat to Japan. Takaichi, who rose in politics as a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Abe, said that a Chinese move against Taiwan could qualify as a threat, setting off the ensuing firestorm. Another possible threat would be a conflict with North Korea that draws in the U.S., analysts say. Japan has previously not specified what would constitute an existential threat under the provision, which is called collective self-defense. Now, Tokyo doesn\u2019t want to withdraw Takaichi\u2019s remark, because it could narrow its options in a Taiwan crisis. Backpedaling could also hurt the new prime minister\u2019s high public support ratings and her image as a hawk on China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING(National times)- Less than a month into her term, Japan\u2019s conservative leader has stirred tensions with China by suggesting a Chinese move against Taiwan could prompt a Japanese military response. China objects to the involvement of other countries in Taiwan, notably the United States, which is the main supplier of weapons to the self-governing island. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n