China Issues Travel Warning to Japan Amid Taiwan Tensions

By Suraj Karowa/ANW
November 15, 2025

*Tourists take pictures near Japan’s Mount Fuji last month.*

BEIJING — In a sharp escalation of diplomatic friction, China has issued a stark advisory urging its citizens to avoid travel to Japan, citing heightened risks stemming from recent provocative statements on Taiwan by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The move, announced Friday by China’s Foreign Ministry, marks Beijing’s most tangible response yet to the controversy, blending symbolic protest with potential economic leverage.

The advisory comes just over a week after Takaichi’s remarks in Japan’s parliament, where she declared that a Chinese military action against Taiwan would constitute “a situation threatening Japan’s survival,” potentially justifying a Tokyo-led response. For Beijing, which claims Taiwan as an inalienable part of its territory and has not ruled out force to achieve unification, such language crosses a sacred “red line.”

The island’s status remains the most volatile flashpoint in Sino-Japanese relations, exacerbated by Tokyo’s deepening security alliance with the United States.

*Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping shake hands prior to their meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea last month.*

“Recent blatantly provocative remarks on Taiwan have further damaged the atmosphere for people-to-people exchanges… creating additional risks to the safety and security of Chinese citizens in Japan,” the ministry stated in a Friday release.

It explicitly advised Chinese nationals to “refrain from visiting Japan for the time being,” while urging those already there to heighten vigilance.

The timing amplifies the stakes. Between January and September 2025, nearly 7.5 million Chinese tourists flocked to Japan — the highest volume from any nation, per data from Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.

Pre-pandemic, this influx fueled a tourism boom, with visitors snapping photos at icons like Mount Fuji and injecting billions into local economies.

A sustained boycott could ripple through hospitality, retail, and transport sectors, echoing China’s past use of consumer boycotts against Australia and Norway over political spats.

This isn’t mere rhetoric; it’s a page from Beijing’s well-honed playbook of “economic diplomacy.” Analysts see it as a calibrated signal: pressure without outright rupture, especially given the nations’ intertwined trade ties — Japan exported $138 billion worth of goods to China last year, while importing $167 billion, including critical semiconductors and rare earths.

The row ignited last Saturday when Xue Jian, China’s Consul General in Osaka, posted — and later deleted — a fiery X message alongside a news clip of Takaichi’s comments: “The dirty neck that sticks itself in must be cut off.”

The outburst, laced with nationalist fervor, went viral in China, where anti-Japanese sentiment has simmered since historical grievances like the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.

State media piled on: The People’s Liberation Army Daily warned of a “head-on blow” to any Japanese intervention in the Taiwan Strait, while a PLA-linked X account translated threats into Japanese, promising a “heavy price.”

Tokyo fired back swiftly. On Friday, Japan’s Foreign Ministry summoned Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianghao to protest Xue’s “highly inappropriate remarks” and demand accountability.

The day before, Beijing had lodged its own formal complaint, with Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong accusing Takaichi of “seriously damaging the political foundation of China-Japan relations” and refusing to retract her words.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi dismissed calls for an apology, framing Takaichi’s statement as a hypothetical discussion of an “existential crisis.”

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara echoed this, emphasizing that “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are important not only for Japan’s security but also for the stability of the international community.”

Takaichi herself, on Monday, clarified her comments as “hypothetical” and pledged to avoid similar parliamentary phrasing moving forward — a nod to the delicacy of the issue.
This dust-up unfolds against a backdrop of fleeting optimism.

Less than two weeks ago, at the APEC Summit in South Korea, Takaichi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first face-to-face, shaking hands and vowing “constructive, stable ties.” Yet, the encounter’s goodwill evaporated amid the Taiwan furor, highlighting the fragility of bilateral relations.

Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister, ascended to power promising a muscular foreign policy. She’s accelerated defense spending to 2% of GDP by 2027 and deepened U.S. interoperability, including joint exercises simulating Taiwan contingencies. But she treads carefully: China absorbs 22% of Japan’s exports, making outright confrontation economically suicidal.

Her administration must juggle hawkish domestic voices — emboldened by memories of Beijing’s 2022 Taiwan Strait war games — with pragmatic business lobbies.

Beijing, meanwhile, eyes Japan’s pivot warily. As it asserts dominance in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S.-Japan security pact — formalized in 1960 and upgraded under the Quad framework — looms large.

China’s Defense Ministry amplified the travel warning Friday, vowing a “crushing defeat” for any Japanese meddling. State outlets like Global Times have lambasted Takaichi as a “warmonger,” fueling online vitriol that blends historical animus with modern memes.

Globally, the episode underscores Taiwan’s centrality to great-power rivalry. The U.S. clings to “strategic ambiguity,” neither confirming nor denying intervention in a Chinese invasion — a stance Washington has held since the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.

Previous Japanese leaders shied from explicit Taiwan linkages, but Takaichi’s candor reflects shifting norms in Tokyo, where public support for arming Ukraine has spilled into Indo-Pacific resolve.

As winter tourism peaks, the advisory’s impact remains unclear. Will it deter holidaymakers, or prove performative? Social media buzz suggests the latter: Weibo users mock it as “overkill,” while some book flights defiantly.

Yet, in a region where miscalculation could ignite conflict, the message is unmistakable — Beijing will brook no encroachments on its core interests.

For now, ambassadors trade protests, and tourists pause at Fuji’s base. But beneath the bluster lies a deeper truth: In the Taiwan tinderbox, words can wound as deeply as weapons.