By Liz Lee and John Geddie
BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) -A spat between China and Japan over Japanese Premier Sanae Takaichi’s Taiwan comments showed no signs of abating on Wednesday after a series of vitriolic articles in Chinese state media and calls in Tokyo to expel a Chinese diplomat.
Takaichi sparked the furore with remarks in parliament last week that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could amount to a “survival-threatening situation” and trigger a potential military response from Tokyo.
That drew a formal protest from China and a threatening post from China’s Consul General in Osaka, Xue Jian, aimed at Takaichi, which Tokyo said was “extremely inappropriate” and complained to Beijing about.
While Takaichi has since said she would refrain from making such comments again and Tokyo called for mutual efforts to reduce friction on Tuesday, a brace of editorials in Chinese state media suggest the furore could rumble on.
State broadcaster CCTV said in an editorial late Tuesday that Takaichi’s remarks were of “extremely malicious nature and impact” and have “crossed the line” with China.
A post on a social media account affiliated with CCTV called Takaichi a “troublemaker”, using the word as a play on the pronunciation of her family name in Chinese.
“Has her head been kicked by a donkey?” the post on the Yuyuan Tantian account challenged.
“If she continues to spew shit without any boundaries like this, Takaichi might have to pay the price!”
The CCTV editorial also likened Takaichi’s reference to “survival-threatening situations” with Japan’s 1931 invasion of northeast China’s Manchuria.
Japan’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CALLS TO EXPEL CHINESE DIPLOMAT
Japanese leaders have until now avoided mentioning Taiwan when publicly discussing such scenarios, maintaining a strategic ambiguity also favoured by Tokyo’s main security ally, the United States.
Beijing claims Taiwan, and has not ruled out using force to take control of the island which sits just over 110 km (68 miles) from Japanese territory. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
Meanwhile some senior political figures in Tokyo have called for Japan to consider expelling the Chinese diplomat Xue, who shared a news article about Takaichi’s remarks on Saturday and commented: “the dirty head that sticks itself in must be cut off”.
Takayuki Kobayashi, the ruling party’s policy chief, urged the government on Tuesday to expel Xue if Beijing showed no effort to resolve the situation. Prominent opposition lawmaker Kenta Izumi also called for Xue’s quick expulsion.
(Reporting by Liz Lee and Beijing newsroom and John Geddie and Tim Kelly in Tokyo; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
