After several Chinese ministries and government agencies expressed strong protest and stern warning against Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's erroneous and dangerous remarks on Taiwan in recent days, several Japanese media outlets have reported the strong reaction from the Chinese side, conveying China's stern attitude, meanwhile, some Japanese political figures have continued to urge Takaichi to retract her wrong remarks.

Japan's Nikkei on Saturday reported that "in response to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks regarding a Taiwan contingency, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 14th issued a notice urging Chinese citizens to refrain from traveling to Japan for the time being. On the 13th, China summoned Japanese Ambassador to China Kenji Kanasugi to protest," highlighting that such move "intensified its hardline stance toward Japan."

Similarly, Japanese media outlets such as the Kyodo News Agency extensively covered recent China's protesting moves across multiple government ministries, especially the summon of Japanese envoy. 

Kyodo reported Saturday that calling Takaichi's remarks "extremely wrong and dangerous," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong warned in his meeting with envoy Kenji Kanasugi on Thursday that "anyone who dares to interfere in China's reunification cause in any form will surely be dealt a heavy blow," the ministry said.

Sun was also quoted as saying the Japanese leader's "provocative" remarks, which implied "the possibility of armed intervention in the Taiwan Strait," seriously undermined the political foundation of bilateral relations and hurt the feelings of the Chinese people."The 1.4 billion Chinese people will never tolerate this," he added.

Japan Times took heed of the travel alert, while stating that Chinese visitors to Japan make up nearly a quarter of all foreign tourists, according to Japan Tourism Agency statistics, with nearly 7.5 million visitors from Chinese mainland traveling to the country in the first nine months of this year.

The Chinese government's warning to its citizens not to visit Japan — a move that could have a significant impact on tourism — was the first concrete move to punish Tokyo over Takaichi's remarks, it said.

It can be stated that, due to Sanae Takaichi's erroneous and provocative remarks on Taiwan, bilateral relations between China and Japan are experiencing a rare sudden political tension since the normalization of diplomatic relations, some Chinese observers pointed out. 

Sanae Takaichi (1st R) reacts after winning Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidential election at the LDPheadguarters in Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 4, 2025.(Kim Kyung-HoOn/REUTERS/Pool via Xinhua)

Takaichi's speech undoubtedly constitutes egregious rhetoric that crosses China's red lines and represents an overreaching threat of force. The motives behind it include, but are not limited to, her obsequious posturing toward the US and the long-standing denial and revisionism of history by Japan's domestic right-wing forces, Lü Chao, president and associate professor at the Institute of American and East Asian Studies at Liaoning University, told the Global Times. 

Japanese Communist Party (JCP) Chair Shii Kazuo on Friday again demanded that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to withdraw her remarks on Taiwan, while warning that attempts to exaggerate the "crisis" by claiming that a Taiwan emergency would be an existential threat and using it to justify a massive military buildup must be firmly rejected, according to a release on the website of Shimbun Akahata, the JCP's daily newspaper on Saturday.

Shii Kazuo, who is also a member of the Japanese House of Representatives, originally posted on X on Friday that the prime minister's " remarks on Taiwan" had escalated into a serious international issue. What is needed to positively resolve Japan-China relations requires calm dialogue grounded in agreements affirmed by both sides, including the 2008 pledge of not posing a threat to each other, rather than provocative rhetoric that intensifies tensions. "We again urge her to retract her remarks," the JCP chair said. 

The Shimbun Akahata report noted that even late former prime minister Shinzo Abe said things like " a Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency " only after leaving office, refraining from making such statements while in office. This is because he understood how serious the situation would be. Takaichi lacks such basic diplomatic common sense. This diplomatic blunder should be corrected now, the report said. 

Shii Kazuo has made a similar demand previously on November 11 in a post on X.

Yutaka Ishida, a member of the Yamato City Council in Kanagawa Prefecture, also called on Takaichi to withdraw her provocative remarks. In a post on Friday, he wrote that "this is a serious problem," while noting that Takaichi's claims on Taiwan "have sharply escalated tensions with China." 

"Beyond the risk of being dragged into war, Japan's heavy reliance on trade with China could lead to further suffering from rising import prices," Ishida wrote, calling Takaichi "the worst prime minister for destroying peaceful diplomacy."  

"Takaichi should retract her statements and resign," Ishida said.

During a radio appearance on TBS on Thursday, Japanese former prime minister Shigeru Ishiba called Takaichi's comments "very close to claiming that a Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency," adding that previous governments had consistently avoided making definitive declarations on how the government would respond to specific scenarios regarding the Taiwan question.

Hiroshi Ogushi of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), quoted by Jiji Press on Tuesday, had demanded Takaichi revoke the remarks.

"If a 'survival-threatening situation' is recognized, it would lead to a defense mobilization. This is a judgment equivalent to entering a war, and past cabinets have been cautious in making such statements," Ogushi said.

Ichiro Ozawa, a member of the House of Representatives from the CDPJ, posted on the social media platform X on Tuesday that "this has become a true 'existence crisis,' which ultimately forces great sacrifices on the people," and said "that is why diplomacy and politics must always remain calm."

Takaichi must retract her remarks and make formal apologies. This is the only way for Japan to extricate itself from the current predicament, Lü said. "Should she persist in her course, the situation will escalate further, severely reversing Chinese-Japanese relations and potentially plunging them to a historic low since the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relationship. In that case, Japan will bear full responsibility."