Japan will suffer 'crushing defeat' if it tries to intervene over Taiwan

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.



Takaichi sparked a diplomatic row with Beijing with comments in parliament last week that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could amount to a "survival-threatening situation" and trigger a military response from Tokyo.



China's top diplomat in Osaka shared a news article about Takaichi's remarks about Taiwan on X and commented "the dirty neck that sticks itself in must be cut off", prompting a protest from Japan's embassy in Beijing to Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong.



Chinese Defence Ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin said that Takaichi's words were extremely irresponsible and dangerous.



"Should the Japanese side fail to draw lessons from history and dare to take a risk, or even use force to interfere in the Taiwan question, it will only suffer a crushing defeat against the steel-willed People's Liberation Army and pay a heavy price," Jiang said in a statement.