The Chinese Communist Party has presided — is presiding — over the largest peacetime military buildup in history.
And China’s “wolf warrior” diplomats constantly reflect this fact.
Earlier this month, during a parliamentary session, Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was pressed by an opposition lawmaker on scenarios that could trigger the clause in Japan’s constitution concerning “survival-threatening situations,” thus allowing collective self-defense. Takaichi explicitly stated that Chinese military action against Taiwan — such as a naval blockade, invasion, or interference with U.S. forces — could qualify.
No “strategic ambiguity” there!
But as scandalous as Takaichi’s answers were to the Communist Party in China, it was the response of Xue Jian, consul general of the People’s Republic of China, in Osaka, Japan, that raised more than eyebrows: “I have no choice but to cut off that filthy head that barged in without hesitation — are you ready?” This was followed by a red emoji, an angry icon.
It has since been deleted.
Last Friday, lawmakers from both Takaichi’s party and Komeito (a centrist, socially conservative party) demanded Xue’s immediate recall; a petition with more than 50,000 signatures circulated online.
But Takaichi herself is under pressure to apologize.
I agree with the Scribbler’s take over at StopTheCCP.org: “It would be disappointing if instead of ‘muddling through,’ the Japanese government as led by its new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, submitted to China’s malicious demands and formally retracted her very reasonable statement about Taiwan.”
The only apologies should come from the CCP’s Osaka Decapitator.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Illustration created with Krea and Firefly
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One reply on “Decapitation Diplomacy”
Indeed, the Japanese state should declare Xue Jian to be persona non grata; those who are pressuring Takaichi Sanae* to apologize either do not understand that the PRC sees those who yield as weaklings, or are expecting to be gone from Japan before PRC encroachments crush the Japanese. Even while the Japanese state sided with the PRC on the matter of Taiwanese independence, the PRC was seizing Japanese territory.
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* In Japan, Ms Takaichi is knows as “高市 早苗” [“Takaichi Sanae”]. Within Japan, as within Taiwan, Korea, China, Viet-Nam, Cambodia, and other nations of the far east, the ordinary practice in referring to someone by name is to put the surname first. Westerners typically follow this practice in reference to the people of these nations, with the sad exception of the Japanese.