When the Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, hinted in early November that the Japanese military could intervene militarily to defend Taiwan in case of a Chinese attack, she may have thought it was a firm, albeit conventional, statement within the usual regional diplomatic disputes. The Japanese leader was mistaken. Takaichi, inexperienced in gauging the thin skin of her powerful neighbor (she has been in office for barely a month), probably did not expect the earthquake that was coming her way.
Within hours, Beijing launched a coordinated mega-campaign against Japan: it sank company stocks, punished seafood exporters, suspended academic summits, postponed movie premieres, censored comedians' performances, and dealt a blow to tourism with thousands of Chinese travelers mass canceling their tickets.
China, once again, demonstrates to the world the enormous capacity of the omnipresent Communist Party (CPC) to quickly mobilize all sectors of society in a noisy campaign of anger against those countries that offend the Asian superpower.
This was already seen at the beginning of the pandemic when Beijing imposed tariffs on Australian products such as barley after Canberra called for an independent investigation into the origins of Covid. Or when, in 2021, Chinese consumers launched a massive boycott of several Western brands (H&M, Nike, and Adidas) for citing reports on alleged forced labor in cotton factories in the Xinjiang region.
After, earlier this year, Donald Trump launched his trade war, the Xi Jinping government struck directly at the heart of Hollywood, announcing that it would reduce the number of American films shown in the world's second-largest film market. And let's not forget the suspension of trade with Lithuania a couple of years ago when this country approved the opening of a new Taiwanese representative office in its capital.
For some time now, some researchers maintain that there is a very direct relationship between Chinese hypersensitivity to perceived offenses and the ideological framework that the CPC has built around the concept of the so-called "century of humiliation," the period in which the Asian country was humiliated by foreign powers between the First Opium War (1839) and the founding of the People's Republic (1949), including the Japanese invasion or the losses of Hong Kong and Macao.
The CPC, especially in the last decades of extraordinary economic development, has championed the cause of national dignity, maintaining that the consolidation of its power is a guarantee that China will never be humiliated by any other foreign power again. Therefore, the Party's media outlets often interpret external criticisms as a deliberate attack on sovereignty and national honor. Subsequently, the state apparatus mobilizes a highly synchronized nationalist fury, as seen in recent days in the diplomatic crisis with Japan.
For Beijing, the Japanese Takaichi crossed a red line by suggesting that Tokyo would intervene in a hypothetical conflict in Taiwan, the self-governing island that China considers part of its territory. And, as much as Japanese ministers and envoys tried to ease tensions, Xi's administration insists that only an apology from the prime minister, or at least a public retraction, will quell an increasingly extensive repression that spans from the economy to culture.
According to projections from the Nomura Research Institute, based in Tokyo, the Japanese economy could lose around 1.49 trillion yen (over 8 billion euros) over the next year if Chinese travelers, the main source of tourism in Japan, continue to avoid the country due to the dispute. Chinese airlines have recorded hundreds of thousands of ticket cancellations, and state-owned enterprises have asked their workers to cancel their vacations in Japan. A travel agency in Tokyo reported an 80% drop in reservations for this year from China.
Recently, Chinese authorities hit trade by announcing a ban on all imports of Japanese seafood. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reported the postponement of a couple of annual meetings of scholars from both countries. In the past few hours, China's main anti-espionage agency claimed to have "solved several cases of infiltration and espionage related to Japanese espionage agencies."
Chinese distributors have postponed the release of several Japanese films. In music and monologue festivals to be held in two Chinese cities, the planned participation of Japanese bands and comedians has been banned. Meanwhile, the propaganda machinery, with the People's Daily (the CPC's official newspaper) or the official tabloid Global Times, continue to launch inflammatory editorials against Takaichi's government.
"Japan will face more serious consequences if it does not correct its mistake," warned Thursday's editorial in the Global Times. "If Japan persists in its stance, refuses to retract its erroneous statements, or even adopts provocative behavior, China has full justification and the need to take more decisive countermeasures." He Yongqian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, also said on Thursday that if Tokyo "insists on continuing down the wrong path" of not rectifying Takaichi's statements, Chinese authorities will take the "necessary measures."
On Chinese social media, deep-rooted anti-Japanese sentiments have resurfaced with comments that even call for a military response against Tokyo. These are the minority, as what the public mainly demands is greater commercial repression.
"Takaichi's erroneous statements evoke the spirit of militarism. She has become the first sitting Japanese leader to openly advocate this dangerous position that could push the country to repeat past mistakes," an editorial in the People's Daily pointed out.
The crisis with Japan once again sends a clear message: when an external actor crosses Beijing's red lines, especially regarding Taiwan, China's choreographed nationalist tantrum goes far beyond diplomacy. Because now, challenging the world's second-largest economy comes with an immediate cost.