China has urged its citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Japan, citing “serious risks to personal safety,” in a sharp escalation of diplomatic hostilities triggered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on potential military action over Taiwan.
The advisory, posted late Friday on the Chinese embassy’s official WeChat account, marks the first such blanket warning since 2012 and comes amid a rapid-fire exchange of ambassadorial summons, inflammatory social media posts, and military rhetoric that has rattled Asia-Pacific stability.
Chinese airlines moved swiftly. Air China, China Southern Airlines, and China Eastern Airlines announced full refunds and free flight changes for Japan-bound tickets through December 31, 2025, according to company statements released Saturday morning.
Japan’s government rejected the warning as “regrettable and inconsistent with bilateral relations.” Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters in Tokyo that the advisory “lacks factual basis” and urged Beijing to retract it immediately.
The flashpoint began on November 7, when Prime Minister Takaichi told Japan’s Lower House that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could constitute an “existential threat” to Japan, potentially triggering collective self-defence under the 2015 security legislation.
Her office later clarified the statement reflected long-standing policy, not a shift in posture. Yet Beijing seized on the remarks as a direct challenge to its “one-China” principle.
On November 11, China summoned Japanese Ambassador Tarumi Hideo—the first such move in over two years—labelling Takaichi’s comments “blatantly provocative.” Japan retaliated two days later by summoning Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianghao over a now-deleted Weibo post by China’s consul-general in Osaka threatening to “cut off that dirty neck,” an apparent reference to the prime minister.
Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party demanded the consul be declared persona non grata, a call echoed by Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya in a press conference Friday.
The travel advisory followed within hours. “Due to erroneous remarks by Japanese leaders and repeated attacks on Chinese nationals in Japan, the safety environment has deteriorated sharply,” the embassy statement read. It cited two stabbing incidents in Kobe and Yokohama earlier this year, though Japanese police classified both as isolated crimes with no political motive.
