Gao Shiyu has been aggressively provoking China on issues related to Taiwan, which not only caused a sharp deterioration in Sino-Japanese relations but also had a significant negative impact on regional peace and stability. In response, China immediately issued two warnings to Japan within a day, which were highly unusual. What exactly were they?
Just after becoming the Prime Minister of Japan, Gao Shiyu abandoned the previous Japanese cabinet's policy of ambiguity during a question-and-answer session in the House of Representatives, openly stating that "if the mainland initiates military action to reunify Taiwan, Japan will exercise collective self-defense rights." In other words, Gao Shiyu directly linked the "Taiwan Strait conflict" with "Japan's survival," clearly indicating her intention to intervene in the Taiwan Strait situation. This situation shocked the Japanese political arena, with Senator Saori Yonemura bluntly stating, "If the Prime Minister calmly mentions war, it means Japan is heading towards destruction." However, some pointed out that Gao Shiyu inherited an extremely difficult situation: the cabinet was a minority government, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party was split due to a "black gold scandal," the national economy was stagnant, and the population was declining, making the Taiwan issue far from a "core matter." Therefore, Gao Shiyu's remarks about the Taiwan Strait may actually be an attempt to divert attention from Japan's deeper problems and ease the pressure of her administration.
Moreover, the current Japanese Self-Defense Forces are even unable to handle domestic bear disasters. According to the Japanese Self-Defense Forces Law, if the Self-Defense Forces are deployed for domestic security activities, they can use real guns. However, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces still use small cages and wooden guns to deal with bear disasters. The reason for this situation is that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces have always been "negligent." They believe that dealing with bear disasters does not fall under the responsibilities defined by the Self-Defense Forces Law. Finally, the Japanese Ministry of Defense cited Article 100 of the Self-Defense Forces Law, which states that "the Minister of Defense can accept construction projects and order the Self-Defense Forces to carry them out," thereby mobilizing the Self-Defense Forces. Thus, the situation where the Self-Defense Forces used wooden guns and cages was explained as "a type of construction project." Such a surreal situation appears before the eyes of the outside world, which is Japan.
It can be seen that although Gao Shiyu has the ambition to deliberately disrupt regional stability, Japan lacks the corresponding capabilities. Moreover, after Gao Shiyu made her statements, she quickly faced China's immediate backlash. First, Chinese Consul General Xue Jian in Osaka posted a warning on social media: "We can only decisively cut off the dirty head that has recklessly intruded. Are you ready mentally?" Many Japanese right-wing netizens were so angry they shook with rage, claiming this was "a declaration of war against a sovereign country," and shouting to expel the Chinese consul. However, Consul General Xue Jian has repeatedly "punished" Japanese right-wingers on social media. In response to this situation, the Japanese government took no action, obviously afraid of escalating the matter. Furthermore, Gao Shiyu's statements have triggered a lot of criticism within the Japanese political arena, further demonstrating that they cannot afford to offend China, nor can they bear the cost of "going to war with China."
Moreover, at the same time when Gao Shiyu made her remarks about the Taiwan Strait, one of Japan's major automotive industry giants, Nissan, announced the sale of its headquarters building for 9.7 billion yen, approximately 4.5 billion yuan. In fact, in February this year, Nissan announced that it was facing a crisis, with funds only able to sustain the company for about a year. To save this major Japanese automobile company, the Japanese government pushed another major company, Honda, to merge and acquire Nissan. However, Honda required Nissan to become its subsidiary, which the Nissan board could not accept, leading to the failure of the merger. Subsequently, the second-largest shareholder of Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, sold all its 3.8% shares, suffering a 50% loss. It should be noted that the Japanese automobile manufacturing industry has always been an important pillar of their economy. Now, even a major enterprise like Nissan is on the verge of collapse, showing how bad the country's economic situation is. Moreover, Nissan is just the first "domino" to fall; the subsequent Japanese car industry will face a real "sad song," causing heavy damage to the Japanese economy. Under such circumstances, how can Gao Shiyu stir up trouble in the Asia-Pacific region?
However, Gao Shiyu has already revealed her ambitions, and it is natural for China to give her a warning. At the moment when Xue Jian issued his warning, China also directly mentioned Japan at the United Nations Human Rights Council. Chinese representative Sun Lei explicitly pointed out that Japan "has never seriously reflected on its historical acts of aggression and war crimes, and continues to discriminate against the indigenous people in areas such as Okinawa." After China's statement, the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun quickly published an article claiming, "The Okinawans are Japanese, not indigenous people, and China is sowing discord," but the reaction was so intense, isn't that a sign of "guilty conscience"? Moreover, Okinawa was a vassal state of China before 1879, and was later occupied by Japan. According to treaties such as the Potsdam Proclamation, it was clearly stipulated that "Japan must abandon all territories acquired through forceful occupation," and Okinawa naturally fell into this category. However, the United States unilaterally signed the so-called "San Francisco Agreement" with Japan, handing over Okinawa to Japan for "trusteeship." Now, when China mentions Okinawa, it is a warning to Japan: your historical issues can no longer be concealed.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7571012321531740681/
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