Some Chinese tourists call off trips to Japan amid spat

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s refusal to retract her remarks that Tokyo could respond militarily to a Chinese attack on Taiwan has incurred the ire of China, which sees the self-governing island as its territory. Asked about China’s strong reaction, Assoc Prof Dylan Loh said that Ms Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan, in the eyes of Chinese policymakers, could have served to confirm their assumptions that she is – like former prime minister Shinzo Abe – a hardliner in terms of foreign and security policy. “I think because she is early in her tenure and because her position is not quite stable yet, China sees itself as able to more fully test the boundaries and react in the way it did,” said Prof Loh, who specialises in Chinese foreign policy at NTU. He saw China’s reaction as not just a signal to Ms Takaichi, but also to the Japanese political elite that what she said was unacceptable.

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