Japan Issues Safety Warning to Travelers in China Amid Diplomatic Feud

The Japanese government on Monday warned citizens visiting China to increase their safety precautions and avoid visiting crowded areas, essentially a tit-for-tat response to China’s similar travel advisory for Japan.

Both warnings were part of an escalating diplomatic feud over Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s remarks on Taiwan in early November.

“Pay attention to your surroundings and avoid as much as possible squares where large crowds gather or places that are likely to be identified as being used by many Japanese people,” the Japanese embassy in China said in its advisory on Monday.

Japanese government spokesman Kihara Minoru insisted the warning was “based on a comprehensive assessment of the political situation, including the security situation in the relevant country or region, as well as the social conditions.”

Chinese officials said roughly the same thing when they warned travelers to avoid Japan earlier on Monday. China’s travel warning advised visitors to Japan to “raise their safety awareness, strengthen self-protection, and promptly call police and contact Chinese embassies or consulates in emergencies.”

The exchange of insults and threats between China and Japan began on November 7, when Prime Minister Takaichi said, during an address to her parliament, that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would present a “survival-threatening” situation for Japan.

China erupted in fury over Takaichi’s remarks, because the phrase “survival-threatening” specifically authorizes military action under Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution. Previous Japanese prime ministers have generally expressed support for Taiwan, but stop short of explicitly stating they would respond to a potential Chinese invasion with military force.

Chinese officials quickly went over the top in their rhetoric, including one Chinese diplomat stationed in Osaka threatening to cut Takaichi’s “filthy head” off. Japan lodged a formal protest against such rhetoric and China responded with even more strident demands for Takaichi to retract her comments – and possibly resign.

Japanese and Chinese officials met in Beijing on Tuesday to de-escalate the situation, but evidently neither side was willing to budge from their positions. Kihara said at his press conference that Takaichi would not retract her remarks, but they did “not alter the government’s existing position” about Taiwan in any meaningful way, so China’s extreme reaction was unwarranted.

China continued adding pressure on Tuesday, canceling the screening of at least two Japanese movies in China, after having virtually cut off lucrative tourism to Japan and threatened Japan’s supply of critical minerals.

Although Japan’s trade ministry said China has not yet tightened its export controls on minerals, some Japanese officials said the mere threat of doing so should prompt Japan to seriously reconsider its dependency on Chinese trade.

“If we rely too heavily on a country that resorts to economic coercion the moment something displeases it, that creates risks not only for supply chains but also for tourism,” economic security minister Onoda Kimi said on Tuesday. “We need to recognise that it’s dangerous to be economically dependent on somewhere that poses such risks.”

Japanese travel agencies complained about the loss of Chinese tourism to Reuters on Wednesday, noting that Japan gets seven percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from tourist spending, and China accounts for roughly 20 percent of that total. A sustained Chinese boycott could cost Japan over $14 billion per year.

Some Japanese entertainers with big Chinese followings have begun attempting to insulate themselves from the dispute, knowing that the authoritarian government in Beijing could easily cancel their Chinese shows, screenings, and product sales.

A Japanese singer called “MARiA” essentially declared herself to be on the other side, using China’s tightly-controlled Weibo social media platform to declare her fervent support for “One China” – the idea that Taiwan belongs to Beijing.