What was it Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi said, on 7 November 2025 that so upset Beijing? That led to a present "crisis"? Here it is:
“If warships are used and armed force is involved [in a Taiwan emergency], it could undoubtedly become a survival-threatening situation” [for Japan].
That’s the exact quote. Nothing about Japan launching a counter-attack, nothing about “joining America to hit the mainland.” Just a statement that if Beijing uses armed force to take Taiwan, the Japanese Senkaku Islands are threatened. Which is a threat to Japan. It is, inarguably, a "survival-threatening situation".
Recall: China officially lists Japan's Senkaku Islands as part of Taiwan Province’s “Diaoyu County”. They are 110 km from the island of Taiwan and suddenly sit inside a combat zone. Japan would be defending territory it has administered for decades. That’s the legal and geographical basis for PM Takaichi's self-defence argument.
I fully understand the anger. Imperial Japan killed nearly 20 million Chinese between 1931 and 1945. I have Chinese friends who lost family members. The Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, the whole horrific list – it’s burned into collective Chinese memory. I know that.
The Century of Humiliation 百年国耻 (Bai-nian Guo-chi) is not ancient history to millions of people; it’s personal. I get that too.
But demanding that everyone now scream “Japan is evil!” because a sitting prime minister made a factual security assessment crosses a line for me. China’s reaction – summoning the ambassador, UN complaints, seafood bans, pulling Japanese films, diplomats posting (then deleting) “cut off the dirty head” – is disproportionate. The online mob, the Weibo storm troopers – "Little Pinks", and the inevitable Wu Mao amplification (the "Fifty cent army") – turned a single Diet answer into a weeks-long nationalist frenzy that only forced Beijing to dig in deeper.
I’m not waving a Rising Sun flag, and I’m certainly not cheering the CCP. I’ve lived in Hong Kong long enough to see both sides up close. History deserves respect, geography deserves honesty, and neither Tokyo nor Beijing gets a blank cheque from me. Refusing to pick a tribe and shout slogans isn’t apathy – it’s just refusing to let old wounds or new mobs do my thinking for me.
My friends had relatives killed by the "Japanese bandits". My own father fought against the Japanese on the infamous Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea. Japanese war planes and submarines attacked Australia.
But it's EIGHTY years ago, folks! That war was 80 years ago. Japan -- whatever you think of it -- is a very different place today.
When do we give up our bitterness? When do we willingly forget? When do we give up our victimhood? When is the "Century of Humiliation" over?
Never??!
Surely not.
My earlier post; "Why did Japan's new PM spark alarm?"
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ADDED: China and Japan had a crisis in 2012 over the Senkaku Islands that was much more dangerous than that today. I remember it. It was all over Japan annexing the Senkakus. Wikipedia:
China's 2012 response to Japan—sanctioning widespread violent protests in 100+ cities (vandalism, car smashings, factory torchings), boycotts causing $250M+ in Japanese auto losses and broader economic self-harm up to $US 2 billion (e.g., AEON mall $8.8M damage), plus naval/air brinkmanship—escalated a administrative dispute into chaos, reflecting state-orchestrated fury to deflect domestic issues. The scale of Beijing's reaction risked war and undermined regional stability....
