The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a warning and demanded that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi retract her "outrageous" statements about Taiwan, warning that Japan "will have to bear all the consequences." Sanae Takaichi, Japan's Prime Minister, sparked a diplomatic dispute with Beijing by stating in parliament last week that a Chinese attack against Taiwan could constitute an "existential threat" to Japan and trigger a possible military response from Tokyo. For this, Beijing subsequently filed a formal protest. However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, emphasized at a press conference today that Takaichi has refused to retract her "outrageous" statements and urged Tokyo to immediately rectify its actions, or the country "will have to bear all the consequences." Additionally, China's state CCTV news channel described the statements of the new Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, on Taiwan as "extremely malicious" and claimed they had "crossed the line." On the other hand, Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi urged Beijing to take action against the controversial Chinese consul general in Osaka, Xue Jian, who recently said on the social network X that "we have no choice but to cut off the dirty head" of Takaichi. "We regret the repeated inappropriate statements made by the Chinese consul general in Osaka," Motegi said at a press conference in Canada, where he was participating in the G7 ministerial meeting.
