"Beijing reacted angrily this month after Japan's new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said an attack on Taiwan could trigger the deployment of her country's self-defence forces if the conflict posed an existential threat to Japan. Insisting that Japan could exercise its right to collective self-defence or coming to the aid of an ally Takaichi said Tokyo had to anticipate a worst-case scenario in the Taiwan Strait."
"If an emergency in Taiwan involved warships and the use of force, then that could constitute a situation threatening [Japan's] survival, whichever way you look at it, she told a parliamentary committee. The so-called Taiwan contingency has become so serious that we have to anticipate a worst-case scenario. Beijing has not ruled out the use of force to annex Taiwan a self-governing democracy it regards as a Chinese province under what it calls reunification."
"The row intensified at the weekend after the Chinese consul general in Osaka, Xue Jian, said in a post on X that referenced a news article about her Taiwan comments: We have no choice but cut off that dirty neck that has been lunged at us without hesitation. Are you ready? Officials in Tokyo condemned Xue's post, which has since been removed, as extremely inappropriate."
Japan signaled potential military involvement if a Taiwan conflict posed an existential threat, with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi saying an attack on Taiwan could trigger deployment of Japan's self-defence forces and that Tokyo must anticipate a worst-case scenario in the Taiwan Strait. Beijing treats Taiwan as a Chinese province and has not ruled out using force for reunification. The dispute intensified after a provocative post by the Chinese consul general in Osaka prompted strong Japanese protests and removal of the post. Takaichi, who met Xi Jinping and became Japan's first female prime minister last month, refused to retract her warning while pledging caution in specifics.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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