Japan will suffer a "crushing defeat" by the Chinese military if it tries to use force to intervene over Taiwan, China's defence ministry said on Friday, ramping up the rhetoric over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks about the island.

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.

Relations between Tokyo and Beijing have dramatically soured, with nationalist rhetoric in China and an apparent threat of beheading from one of its diplomats.

China's Foreign Ministry has summoned the Japanese ambassador to China to demand a retraction of a remark by Japan's Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae about a possible Taiwan contingency.

An offhand remark from the prime minister of Japan has roiled Beijing, unleashing an onslaught of accusations and even threats of decapitation from Chinese officials. The Chinese Communist Party is demanding that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi retract an assertion she made last week,

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

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.