[People News] In just one week, Japan–China relations suddenly became tense and rapidly escalated. Beijing flew into a rage over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s statement on November 7 that “an incident in Taiwan is an incident for Japan,” yet made no mention whatsoever of Xue Jian, the wolf-warrior ambassador whose terrifying comment threatened to behead Gao Chi. The Chinese Communist Party, afraid the world might not fall into chaos, has turned from wolf warrior to mad dog: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shouting on the street, the Taiwan Affairs Office stirring emotions, the Ministry of National Defense issuing harsh threats, diplomats in Japan playing “beheading,” the Maritime Safety Administration staging theatrics, and the Tourism Bureau driving the knife in—launching hysterical, high-decibel mad-dog-style warnings at Japan.

On the night of November 13, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong summoned Japanese Ambassador to China Kenji Kanasugi to protest Gao Chi’s November 7 remarks regarding “a Taiwan contingency” made at the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, demanding a retraction. The next day, Takehiro Funakoshi, Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister, summoned Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao to lodge a strong protest over Xue Jian’s remarks and demanded China take appropriate countermeasures. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi reiterated that Gao Chi’s remarks were “not necessary to retract.” On the same day, Wu Jianghao—acting on instructions—summoned Takehiro Funakoshi again, making a stern démarche over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s “erroneous China-related statements,” declaring: “If Japan dares to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait situation, it will constitute an act of aggression, and China will strike back head-on!”

Party-run media also made a grand show of not backing down. On the 14th, the People’s Daily, under the pen name “Zhong Sheng,” published an article calling Gao Chi’s remarks “a betrayal of the One-China principle and a blatant provocation of the post-WWII international order.” Global Times and Hu Xijin also jumped out, fiercely attacking Sanae Takaichi. The PLA channel on the X platform even produced Japanese- and English-language info-cards saying: “If Japan dares to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait situation, it will constitute an act of aggression, and China will strike back head-on.” On the afternoon of the 14th, Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Jiang Bin threatened that if Japan intervenes militarily in the Taiwan Strait, it “will pay a painful price.”

Judging from Beijing’s posture, the Party, government, and military departments have taken turns coming onstage—full firepower, escalating tones, increasingly intense language. Every round of mouth-cannon more forceful than the last—“strike back head-on,” strings of harsh rhetoric—truly giving the impression that war could break out any moment. They even pulled out the term “acting on instructions” to scare people. It seems Sanae Takaichi really struck a nerve—one sentence was enough to drive Zhongnanhai crazy; Beijing is turning into an insane asylum.

The more the CCP jumps, the calmer Japan becomes. The world sees clearly that all this CCP barking is just for show—performing for domestic audiences, pretending to be a pig that eats a tiger. The script needs enough drama, and it must be bloody enough. After all, anti-Japanese war dramas have aired in China for N years; now they’ve met a real situation and a tough opponent, so even if firing blanks, they must make them look bright enough.

Next, the dog-blood drama truly began. On the 14th, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chinese embassies and consulates in Japan solemnly advised Chinese citizens to avoid traveling to Japan in the near future, raise security awareness, and strengthen self-protection. This delighted the Japanese—nothing would make them happier. Wherever Chinese tourists go, disaster follows: petty theft, loud noise, poor manners, crude speech—spoiling the scenery. Is the CCP trying to scare the Japanese, or is it indirectly giving Chinese aunties a lesson?

After fooling China’s uncles and aunties, they had to fool the little pinks too; otherwise there would be no way to explain. On November 15, the China Maritime Safety Administration issued a navigation warning that from the 17th to the 19th, there would be three full days of live-fire drills in parts of the central Yellow Sea. Guess what netizens said? “The yellow croakers are unlucky again.” The poor fish die without understanding why—the CCP’s sensitive G-spot was stepped on. Every time they get humiliated abroad, they come home and blow up fish. Last time Pelosi visited Taiwan, the CCP also vented its anger on fish—and accidentally sank one of its own ships.

And it didn’t end there. The CCP insists on tormenting itself until it collapses—like Don Quixote fighting windmills, it must fool itself thoroughly. On November 15, the new-media account under China Central Radio and Television, “Yu Yuantan Tian,” published an article titled “China Has Made Substantive Countermeasure Preparations Against Japan.” It claimed “The Chinese people must not be provoked; once provoked, it is hard to handle.” The “substantive countermeasures” include but are not limited to: countermeasures against relevant Japanese individuals, suspension of bilateral economic, diplomatic, and military exchanges, etc., and emphasized that “China is Japan’s largest trading partner,” and if Japan continues its provocations, “the losses will be borne by itself.” The article hysterically hurled insults: “Take a piss and look at yourself.” This is the level of a national broadcaster—full shrew-scolding mode.

This is the highest-spec reaction the CCP has displayed; the entire state machine instantly switched to mad-dog mode. Netizens burst into laughter—everyone knows that barking dogs don’t bite, and dogs that kill don’t bark. For years the CCP has rampaged around the world with wolf-warrior diplomacy, acting overbearing and imperious, yet was knocked flat by two women: U.S. Speaker Pelosi and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

The CCP is best at exploiting nationalist sentiment—lavish packages, full-chain scripts involving diplomacy, economy, and military, with a fear-index at max, self-damage at max, guaranteed global attention, maximum visual shock and nationalist emotional value—while the stock market, currency market, and GDP joyfully plunge. A globally broadcast patriotic Spring Festival Gala that calculates only political accounts, not economic ones.

Let’s speculate—CCP’s potential moves are nothing more than: recalling its ambassador to Japan, expelling Japanese embassy personnel, downgrading diplomatic relations, issuing a tourism ban, arresting “Japanese spies,” manufacturing incidents of “bleeding Japanese schoolchildren,” causing trouble for Japanese companies in China, creating blacklists, dumping Japanese government bonds, removing or banning Japanese anime and games, national anti-Japanese product boycotts, smashing Japanese cars, rare-earth export bans, high-intensity live-fire drills in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea, pulling Russia into joint military drills, missiles or warships “accidentally entering” Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

But all of the CCP’s moves are “kill 100 enemies, injure itself 1,000.” Diplomatic retaliation is just superficial theatrics. Military invasion would trigger the U.S.–Japan security alliance; even with a hundred guts, Beijing would not dare truly risk a hot conflict. As for economic calculations—China knows exactly who would lose more. China runs a trade surplus with Japan; Japan is one of China’s major surplus sources. China’s semiconductor manufacturing equipment and automotive chips rely heavily on Japan, as do auto parts, precision machine tools, and optical medical devices. Any sanctions on Japanese investment would provoke global capital flight from China; using national security excuses would drive foreign direct investment out altogether.

In contrast, Japan—Sanae Takaichi and her cabinet remain calm. Gao Chi focuses on 17 national-security and tech-competition priorities, appoints pro-U.S. and pro-Taiwan cabinet members, restores traditional ranks within the Self-Defense Forces, and considers revising the “three non-nuclear principles”—moving Japan back toward a nuclear or major military power. Recently, during the U.S.–Japan leaders’ summit, a golden alliance was formed. Analysts say former President Trump does not oppose nuclear sharing with Japan. If the U.S. and Japan reach a nuclear-sharing arrangement, it would completely break the CCP’s nuclear-balance strategy, meaning the U.S. nuclear umbrella extends directly to East Asia. This could provide a nuclear-sharing model for the Philippines and Taiwan—something the CCP absolutely does not want to see.

Will China and Japan accidentally trigger a military clash? The answer: Absolutely impossible. This entire CCP performance—hysterics, “acting on instructions” summons, wolf-warrior “beheading” threats, live-fire fish-bombing, mouth-cannon intimidation—all of it is just injecting adrenaline into the little pinks, a patriotic Spring Festival Gala in storyboard mode, not actual warships and artillery in live combat. On this point, Zhongnanhai is clearer than anyone.

(People News First Publication) △