China and Japan are experiencing their most intense diplomatic tensions in years after Beijing issued economic warnings in response to recent comments by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about a potential Taiwan conflict. As we featured previously, Takaichi had suggested that any Chinese use of force against Taiwan could be considered a "situation threatening Japan’s survival" - which could justify Tokyo supporting allied nations in defense of the self-ruled island.

Beijing reacted swiftly, with a Chinese state broadcaster over the weekend having cautioned that the country is "fully prepared for concrete countermeasures," which could include sanctions, trade repercussions, and even the suspension of all diplomatic or military engagement - as cited in Bloomberg. All of this comes after NATO scrapped highly provocative plans to open a 'NATO office' in Japan.

Takaichi is only a month in office, and became the first Japanese leader in decades to publicly raise the Taiwan Strait crisis alongside the possible deployment of Japanese troops.

China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Monday repeated Beijing's demand for a full retraction and apology. She called on Japan to "Stop crossing the line and playing with fire, retract the wrongful remarks and deeds and honor its commitments to China with real action." 

She further declared there is "no space" for ambiguity on what China sees as its territory. She further explained, "China has made its serious position clear several times on Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s wrongful remarks on Taiwan." She added: "The remarks seriously violate the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan, and cause fundamental damage to the political foundation of China-Japan relations."

Bloomberg has cited one regional analyst who says a full severing of relations is likely not on the agenda:

"Although China’s reaction has been very strong so far, it’s very calculated," said Rui Aoyama, a professor of Japan-China relations at Waseda University in Tokyo. "China is aiming to deal a blow to Japan’s economy, but I don’t think there’s an intention to cut ties."

Yet this will be a serious test for Takaichi, and there could be painful economic repercussions for Japan just around the corner.

Already last week China urged its nationals not to travel to Japan, and summoned the Japanese ambassador to Beijing to condemn Takaichi's remarks.

State media ramping up the trolling and attacks...

The situation then turned into a tit-for-tat of outrage. Fox example Japan has been most angered at a social media post issued a week ago by China's consul general in the Japanese city of Osaka, Xue Jian. He had shared article about Takaichi's parliamentary remarks on X with his own words, "the dirty head that sticks itself in must be cut off." Tokyo quickly lodged its own diplomatic protest over the "high inappropriate" commentary.

But China has still maintained all of this ultimately stems from the "extremely wrong and dangerous" words of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi related to defending Taiwan.