China has warned there is “no market” for Japanese seafood exports, the newest veiled risk from Beijing as its diplomatic spat with Tokyo escalates over latest comments by Japan’s chief on defending Taiwan.
The two neighbors have been engaged in a rapidly spiraling dispute after Japanese chief Sanae Takaichi, in response to a query in parliament, mentioned {that a} Chinese assault on Taiwan would rely as “a situation threatening Japan’s survival,” and thus might set off a navy response from Tokyo.
Beijing views the self-governing democracy of Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to take management of the island, by drive if crucial. For Beijing, Taiwan’s sovereignty is essentially the most delicate challenge in its relations with different nations – a “red line” to not be crossed.
For greater than every week, China and its state media has issued close to each day denunciations of Takaichi as effectively as threats to economically punish Tokyo except the comments are retracted.
Seafood emerged as the newest stress level at an everyday press briefing on Wednesday from China’s international ministry.
“Due to the erroneous remarks made by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on important Taiwan issues, there has been strong public outrage in China,” spokesperson Mao Ning advised reporters. “Under the current circumstances, even if Japanese seafood were exported to China, there would be no market for it.”
Mao was responding to stories earlier that day in Japanese media that China had already knowledgeable Tokyo that it deliberate to ban seafood exports from Japan. Both NHK and Kyodo ran the stories, citing sources.
However Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara advised reporters Tokyo has but to obtain any affirmation from the Chinese authorities on the matter.
Mao’s response didn’t verify a ban was in place, but it surely has raised the prospect that one is likely to be on its approach as effectively as additional punitive measures.
“Japan should first retract its erroneous remarks and take concrete actions to safeguard the political foundation of China-Japan relations; otherwise, China will have no choice but to take further measures,” Mao mentioned.
China had solely partly resumed imports of seafood from Japan earlier this 12 months after banning them in August 2023 in response to Tokyo’s choice to start releasing handled radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Japan’s devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami precipitated water throughout the plant to be contaminated with extremely radioactive materials. Tokyo had argued that it had handled the water correctly, however Beijing had lengthy led regional opposition to the water being returned to the ocean.
The risk of a brand new seafood ban comes after Beijing final week suggested its residents towards travelling to Japan.
Although the transfer is non-binding, it is vastly symbolic – practically 7.5 million vacationers from China visited Japan between January and September this 12 months, by far the best rely of any nation or area, based on official information cited by Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
Chinese airways together with Air China, China Eastern and China Southern later revealed notices on their web sites providing prospects refunds or free adjustments on sure tickets to Japan, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Japanese corporations are beginning to report cancellations.
Tokyo-based tour operator East Japan International Travel Service mentioned it had misplaced 70% of its bookings for the rest of the 12 months, due to the continued row between Japan and China.
Yu Jinxin, the corporate’s vice chairman, advised NCS it was “a huge loss for us”, including Chinese tour teams are a key a part of their enterprise.
“We can withstand a short-term impact of one to two months, but if the situation becomes prolonged, the financial strain on our operations will be significant,” Yu added.
Previous Japanese leaders have averted discussing Taiwan within the context of a navy response to keep away from ruffling feathers in China – Japan’s greatest commerce companion.
Takaichi, a hawk who has pushed to strengthen Japan’s defense capacity, visited Taiwan earlier this 12 months – earlier than she grew to become Prime Minister – and known as for cooperation on “defense challenges,” which Beijing condemned on the time.
She has beforehand criticized Beijing’s growing navy presence in East Asia, and through the APEC summit, she met with Taiwan’s consultant, once more angering China.
She met Chinese chief Xi Jinping on the similar summit, at which she mentioned she had requested China to renew imports of Japanese beef and seafood imports.
NCS’s Mai Takiguchi and Kloe Zheng contributed to this report.