China has advised its citizens to refrain from traveling to Japan amid escalating diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
In a notice issued on Friday, China’s Foreign Ministry along with its embassy and consulates in Japan urged Chinese nationals to avoid visiting Japan in the near future, citing “multiple criminal offenses and incidents of attacks against Chinese nationals in Japan this year.”
Beijing said recent remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi regarding Taiwan have “severely undermined the atmosphere for China-Japan personnel exchanges,” according to the Foreign Ministry’s Department of Consular Affairs, as reported by the state-run Global Times.
Chinese nationals currently in Japan were also advised to stay alert, monitor local security developments, and take extra safety precautions.
The tensions follow comments Takaichi made last week, suggesting that any Chinese military action against Taiwan—including a naval blockade—could constitute a “survival-threatening situation,” allowing Japan to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Takaichi later told lawmakers she was speaking in the context of a worst-case scenario and refused to retract her statement.
In response to the remarks, Beijing summoned Japan’s ambassador earlier on Friday.
Japan, however, reiterated its adherence to the 1972 joint communique in which it recognized China and acknowledged Beijing’s stance that Taiwan is an “inalienable part” of Chinese territory, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara.
Tokyo has not yet issued a response to Beijing’s latest advisory.
