An offhand remark from the prime minister of Japan has roiled Beijing, unleashing an onslaught of accusations and even threats of decapitation from Chinese officials.
The Chinese Communist Party is demanding that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi retract an assertion she made last week, calling a hypothetical invasion of Taiwan a “survival-threatening situation” to Japan. Under Japanese law, that term designates a scenario in which the purely defensive Japanese military can deploy.
“Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made provocative remarks on Taiwan, which imply the possibility of armed intervention in the Taiwan Strait. Despite China’s serious démarches and protests, she still refused to change course and take back what she had said,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian declared at a Thursday press conference.
Japanese Prime Minister
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