[People news] Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae stated in the Diet that “a contingency in Taiwan” would affect Japan’s security. Her remarks triggered strong dissatisfaction from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Xue Jian, the CCP’s Consul General in Osaka, even used the word “beheading.” The CCP further launched a series of retaliatory actions inside China, demanding that Takaichi retract her remarks. However, Japanese officials reiterated that they have no intention of withdrawing the statement. Meanwhile, public opinion surveys in Japan show that half of respondents support or tend to support the idea that “if Taiwan is attacked, Japan may exercise the right of collective self-defense.”

According to Taiwan’s Liberty Times, a poll by Japan’s Kyodo News showed that 48.8% of respondents support or tend to support the idea that “Japan may exercise the right of collective self-defense if something happens to Taiwan,” while 44.2% oppose it.

In a nationwide telephone survey conducted by Kyodo News on the 15th and 16th, public opinion showed divisions over whether Japan should exercise collective self-defense if the CCP attacks Taiwan.

In addition, regarding Takaichi’s proposal to “increase defense spending to strengthen national defense,” 60.4% of respondents support it, while 34.7% oppose it.

The poll also showed that the Takaichi cabinet’s approval rating stands at 69.9%, an increase of 5.5 percentage points from October’s survey, while the disapproval rating is 16.5%. The CCP did not expect that this wave of anti-Japanese agitation would not intimidate the Japanese, but instead boost Takaichi Sanae’s public support.

The Washington Post reported on the 19th that Beijing is using harsh rhetoric, military intimidation, and economic coercion to express dissatisfaction with Takaichi’s remarks. However, Michael Green, former Senior Director for Asia at the U.S. National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration, believes that the CCP’s actions may actually accelerate the formation of a regional coalition to contain China.

On the 19th, former British Prime Minister Liz Truss posted on X, sharing a screenshot of a report from The Telegraph published on the 18th, and wrote: “Very glad to see Japan showing strong leadership on the Taiwan issue. This should be a model for the UK.” The post has been viewed nearly 680,000 times. One commenter wrote: “Japan rightly recognizes that ambiguity (on the Taiwan issue) is the same as signing a suicide pact with Beijing. For decades, the left and its corporate lobbying groups have appeased the CCP, hoping to buy peace with money. Japan’s actions show that strength is the only currency Xi Jinping respects. The UK and the U.S. must abandon illusions and draw a firm line immediately.”

Regarding Xue Jian’s “beheading remarks,” Taiwan Presidential Office adviser and former Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh wrote on Facebook that U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel mocked the remark, saying: “Thanks to unreasonable comments from Chinese officials for greatly strengthening the U.S.–Japan alliance.” Emanuel had previously said that such aggressive comments by Xue Jian are often referred to as “wolf warrior diplomacy,” but in reality, “he is more like an untrained dog.”

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Chou Ni-an stated on the 17th that allowing diplomats to make extreme statements such as “beheading” shows that the greatest threat to peace in East Asia today comes from the CCP’s export of communism and Chinese hegemonism.

TSU Secretary-General Wang Ming-yuan said that Takaichi Sanae’s determination to defend regional peace despite CCP pressure represents a key step toward Japan’s normalization as a nation and deserves recognition from the people of Taiwan.

Currently, tensions between China and Japan remain high. The CCP announced live-fire drills in the central Yellow Sea from the 17th for three days, an action seen as aimed at Japan.

In response, Su Jia-chyuan—President of the Taiwan–Japan Relations Association and former President of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan—said on the 17th that the CCP protests everything involving Taiwan, including Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung’s visit to Japan and Frank Hsieh receiving the Order of the Rising Sun. He said protesting is routine for the CCP, but in international relations it is abnormal and an act of hegemony. Japanese political circles have become numb to the CCP’s constant protests, and in the end, such protests become ineffective.

Regarding the CCP’s live-fire drills in the Yellow Sea, Su said that such drills are a means of intimidating the international community, Japan, and Taiwan. At first, Japanese society gets nervous, but now they seem used to it. Japanese society is very angry at such provocations, and the CCP may not gain any advantage in international relations.

The CCP also quickly used nationalism to stir public anger, urging Chinese citizens to reduce tourism and studying abroad in Japan.

Taiwanese scholar Hung Yao-nan wrote in Newtalk that the CCP’s use of nationalism as a political lever is nothing new. This time, the CCP completed a round of anti-Japanese nationalist mobilization within just a few days. In this context, nationalism is no longer a public sentiment but a political technology that can be repeatedly deployed. If one understands the situation only from a diplomatic perspective, one can easily miss the deeper political logic behind it—namely China’s internal pressures, which can no longer be concealed.

According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, in the third quarter of 2025, the urban youth unemployment rate reached 18.4% (after “optimizing” the data); real estate investment dropped 11.2% year-on-year; local government budget deficits surged across the board; exports declined for three consecutive quarters, and foreign investment continues to withdraw.

According to the IMF Regional Economic Outlook for Asia, the CCP is simultaneously facing the “middle-income trap” and a “crisis of governance trust.” Under Xi Jinping’s highly centralized system, policy errors cannot be corrected, and contradictions only continue to accumulate.

Hung Yao-nan wrote that in this context, anti-Japanese nationalism has become the most convenient and lowest-cost emotional painkiller: the CCP creates external crises to trigger nationalist anger and blur the focus on the economy, ultimately seeking to reinforce the regime’s legitimacy. Rather than fixing structural problems, it launches diplomatic confrontations to divert attention. The essence of anti-Japanese nationalism is not confidence but insecurity; not strategy but short-sighted political maneuvering; not strength but anxious disguise. When a regime must rely on manufacturing hostility to maintain stability, the real crisis is not in the Diaoyu Islands or the Taiwan Strait, but in Beijing itself. Nationalism can be mobilized, but it is not an unlimited resource. When it becomes a substitute for governance, it will eventually backfire on those who manipulate it. The loser is never Japan, but China’s own future. △