China Cautions Citizens about Studies in Japan

Beijing, Nov. 16 (Jiji Press)–China’s Education Ministry on Sunday issued a notice urging the country’s citizens to think carefully if they plan to study in Japan. The action is believed to be another retaliatory measure against Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent remarks that a contingency over Taiwan could constitute what Japan calls a survival-threatening situation, allowing the country to exercise its right to collective self-defense. On Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released a notice recommending the country’s nationals not to visit Japan, saying that the Japanese leader has made blatant provocative remarks about Taiwan, posing a serious risk to the safety of the Chinese people’s lives. Hong Kong on Saturday cautioned its citizens planning to visit Japan. The Education Ministry’s notice said that safety risks are increasing, urging the Chinese citizens who are studying or will soon study in Japan to pay attention to the security situation and raise their awareness to protect themselves. Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan have sparked a backlash in China. On social media, an increasing number of posts call for boycotts of Japanese products. The electronic edition of the People’s Liberation Army Daily, a Chinese military organ, on Sunday released a commentary by a researcher saying that if Japan intervenes in the Taiwan issue with force, there is a risk that all of Japan will become a battlefield. The China Coast Guard announced that coast guard ships patrolled inside what the country claims to be territorial waters around the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture on Sunday. The organization often makes such actions public, but Sunday’s announcement may have been made in step with increasing criticism in China of Takaichi’s remarks. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]