“Decapitation” Rhetoric Continues to Ferment as China–Japan Information War Heats Up

The Chinese Communist Party employs transnational harassment and intimidation tactics to deter Chinese individuals residing in Japan from engaging in protests and activities aimed at protecting their rights. Figure 1. (Video screenshot)

[People News] In mid-November, Xue Jian, the CCP’s consul general in Osaka, threatened to “decapitate” Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The incident has continued to ferment to this day, with both sides constantly escalating an information war. However, the world is increasingly seeing clearly that the CCP is a source of instability and disaster at both the global and regional levels. The growing passive resistance by many Asian countries against the CCP’s violence and brutality has increasingly drawn global sympathy.

The CCP Forces Neighboring Countries to Stay in Line With It

On the 17th, the CCP, through a spokesperson for its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said it urged certain people in Japan to stop manipulating false narratives. It then went on to kidnap both Chinese and international society, demanding that Japan give a responsible explanation to “China and the international community.” Spokesperson Guo Jiakun also said that “…recently, quite a number of regional countries have once again emphasized adherence to the One China (CCP) principle, opposition to ‘Taiwan independence,’ support for China’s (CCP’s) great cause of reunification, and vigilance against and resistance to the revival of militarism.”

What Guo Jiakun referred to as “quite a number of regional countries” most likely points to the CCP’s recent practice of repeatedly summoning resident ambassadors from Southeast Asian countries and other nations, demanding that they criticize Japan and coercing them to support the CCP’s position in the name of their countries. On the other hand, the CCP has intensified its activities in Europe. From late November to mid-December, Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a series of trips among European political leaders, successively engaging senior officials in France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, asserting that Japan is attempting to change the status quo in Taiwan. The implication was to use both pressure and inducements to force these countries to align with the CCP in statements involving Japan and Taiwan.

China–Japan “Information War” Intensifies

In response to the CCP’s series of diplomatic maneuvers criticizing Japan, Japan’s National Security Secretariat Secretary-General Keiichi Ichikawa began actions as early as the 13th of this month, holding telephone talks with senior officials from the United Kingdom, France, and Germany to rebut the CCP’s accusations. Diplomatic clashes between the two sides turned into blade-to-blade exchanges with sparks flying, and the “information war” has clearly intensified.

During this period, there were also frictions involving aerial interference by military aircraft, which likewise originated from this incident. On the afternoon of the 6th of this month, a CCP Navy J-15 carrier-based fighter jet intermittently illuminated a Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-15 fighter with radar over international waters southeast of Okinawa’s main island. Afterwards, the two sides engaged in a war of words, hurling accusations at each other, both expressing serious dissatisfaction and strong protests.

The Japanese government believes that the CCP’s series of actions has already affected Japan’s security and diplomatic environment. Internal analysis within the Japanese government points out that as international attention to the Taiwan Strait issue increases, China (the CCP) and Japan are not only contending in the military and security domains, but are also engaging in offense and defense in diplomatic narratives and the arena of international public opinion. Similar “information wars” may become the norm in the future.

A CCP Diplomat Threatens to Decapitate the Japanese Prime Minister

Just how serious an issue has caused both the CCP and Japan to constantly shuttle among many countries in Asia and Europe?

The matter originated on November 7, when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stated during a parliamentary Q&A that a “Taiwan contingency” could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan to exercise its right of collective self-defense, and that Japan could exercise collective self-defense. The next day, Xue Jian, the CCP’s consul general in Osaka, posted on the X platform a threat: “Those dirty heads that barge in without authorization should be chopped off without hesitation. Are you prepared?” On the 9th, perhaps feeling it still was not sensational enough, Xue Jian posted another threatening message: “‘A Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency’—this sentence is the road to death that some foolish Japanese politicians choose.”

This threat exploded in Japanese public opinion, and the Japanese government lodged strong protests with the CCP. Sanae Takaichi subsequently explained that what she meant was that if war were to break out in the Taiwan Strait, it would inevitably affect the Sea of Japan—wouldn’t that then mean Japan has a contingency?

Yet the CCP refused to let the matter go. From the CCP’s foreign minister to its foreign ministry spokespersons and then to the CCP military, statements were issued one after another, all placing the responsibility on the Japanese side.

From this, it can be seen that Xue Jian’s words were by no means personal. Such terrorist-style threatening language comes straight from the CCP, and it also recalls Xi Jinping’s speech at the CCP’s centenary celebration on July 1, 2021, when he said that any external forces that dare to bully, oppress, or enslave us will surely… “smash their heads and spill blood.”

As of the 17th, the CCP still refused to let the matter rest, continuing to demand that Japan “repent and correct its mistakes.” At a press conference, the CCP Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded that Japan retract Prime Minister Takaichi’s remarks involving Taiwan. At a routine press conference held by the CCP Ministry of National Defense in mid-December, it said that (Japan) was packaging itself from a provocateur into a victim, raising doubts as to whether it was trying to divert attention from the serious consequences caused by Prime Minister Takaichi’s erroneous remarks on Taiwan… and strongly urged the Japanese side to earnestly reflect and correct its errors, stating that any despicable conduct or political manipulation involving evasion of the facts, sleight of hand, or turning the tables would not succeed.

Many Countries Around the World Condemn the CCP

However, this storm between Japan and the CCP triggered by the “decapitation” threat has won sympathy from many countries around the world.

After reposting a screenshot of Xue Jian’s post, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel criticized it, saying: “His mask has fallen once again. Just a few months ago, Xue Jian compared Israel to Nazi Germany. Now he is threatening Prime Minister Takaichi and the Japanese people. It is time for Beijing to take action and behave like the ‘good neighbor’ it claims to be, rather than repeatedly contradicting its words with its actions.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China stated that such wolf-warrior rhetoric highlights the CCP’s arbitrary hegemonic mindset and shows it to be a troublemaker attempting to unilaterally change the international order. Such threats not only fall below the minimum standard of civilized, law-based discourse, but also represent extreme disrespect and unreasonableness toward the head of another country’s government. The Chinese side’s remarks underscore its hegemonic mentality.

Some commentators said that CCP diplomats speaking in such a crude tone bring to mind the CCP Foreign Ministry’s former spokesperson Zhao Lijian, and are even worse.

Others pointed out that this 57-year-old Chinese consul general made such low-level remarks in order to attract the attention of wolf-warrior leader Wang Yi, hoping—like former Chinese ambassador to France Lu Shaye—to gain an extended posting by relying on wolf-warrior rhetoric.

(People News exclusive first release)

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