China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson consecutively posted English and Japanese graphic messages on social media platform X, warning Japan to "stop playing with fire on the Taiwan question" on November 13, 2025. Photo: Screenshot from Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson's X account.

A spat between China and Japan over Japanese Premier Sanae Takaichi's Taiwan comments showed no signs of abating on Wednesday with a series of vitriolic commentaries in Chinese state media and calls in Tokyo to expel a Chinese diplomat.

Takaichi’s remarks stirred a firestorm, but her later clarifications highlight the limits on Japan’s involvement in a Taiwan crisis.

Heavyweights clash as election of hawkish PM Sanae Takaichi and US policy unpredictability change calculus in region

Japan said on Monday it had complained to China about "extremely inappropriate" remarks by one of its diplomats towards Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Japan is pushing back over Chinese representative to Osaka Xue Jian's violent rhetoric about Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae. Responding to Takaichi's statement that Japan would deploy its Self-Defense Forces in the case of an attack on Taiwan,