A commentary by military mouthpiece PLA Daily warned on Sunday that Japan risked turning its entire country into a battlefield if it intervened militarily in the Taiwan Strait, marking the latest escalation in a heated diplomatic row sparked by comments by Japan’s leader.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told her country’s parliament on November 7 that the use of force against Taiwan could be seen as a “survival-threatening situation”, a scenario that would allow Tokyo to deploy its Self-Defence Forces. She has refused to retract the remarks.
Beijing earlier said such an intervention would be seen as an act of aggression and be met with strong retaliation.
In a strongly worded commentary, the official newspaper of the People’s Liberation Army said Takaichi had revealed Tokyo’s “wolfish ambition to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs through military means”.
The commentary, written by Xu Yongzhi, a researcher with China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, warned that Japan’s “misguided actions” would only lead the country “down a path of no return”.
“It risks the entire country becoming a battlefield,” the commentary said.
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