A baseball match between Japan and Taiwan has snowballed into a diplomatic storm with China fulminating about it. Check out this statement from the foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun in Beijing:
“His clandestine and sneaky trip to Japan to engage in provocative schemes for ‘Taiwan independence’ is nothing but a collection of despicable and shameful tricks. Japan’s indulgence of such provocations and its reckless behavior will inevitably come at a cost.”
China was taking aim, not so much at the baseball game, but at the VIP attending it: Taiwan’s Premier Cho Jung-tai slipped into Tokyo on what he said was a “personal visit”, to cheer for the Taiwanese team.
Nothing wrong with that but the diplomatic nuances are interesting: this was the first visit by a high level Taiwanese figure (Cho is third in the political hierarchy) to Japan since 1972 when formal diplomatic ties were severed between Tokyo and Taipei. This was when the US shifted recognition from Taiwan to China.
China’s anger concealed a larger fear: in 2022 Taiwan’s then vice-president (and now president) Lai Ching-te travelled to Tokyo to pay his respects at the funeral of prime minister Shinzo Abe. It broke a 50-year ban on official visits between the two capitals.
Then followed Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung who was in Japan reportedly in June last year. It has fuelled suspicions in Beijing that Japan and Taiwan are getting closer. Recall Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had said in November last year that she could send forces to Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
China warned Japan of consequences and banned 20 Japanese firms from doing any business with them. More restrictions followed with a ban on Japanese seafood being reimposed, restrictions on tourism and study programs in Japan.
The Japanese have stuck to their guns including unveiling a record $58 billion defence budget in December 2025, with the focus on long range missiles and drones for coastal defence. Tokyo was also firm that there was nothing official about Cho’s visit.
“We understand that the Taiwan side has described this as a private visit. The government is not in a position to comment,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said.
The storm is unlikely to blow over. China understands the implications of what Japan is doing but can do little about it.
