About 32 per cent of Chinese airline tickets to Japan cancelled following row sparked by Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks

A meeting in Beijing between senior officials from the two foreign ministries failed to solve the heated dispute. The number of tourist cancellations over the weekend reaches early COVID-19 levels. Beijing is also putting pressure on Chinese students, who, faced with visa difficulties in the United States, increasingly opted for Japanese universities.

Milan (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Tensions between China and Japan remain high, sparked by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's recent statements on the Taiwan issue.

A meeting between senior Chinese and Japanese officials in Beijing was not enough to mitigate the controversy, with Tokyo rejecting Beijing's request to retract the statements, this according to a source at the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Masaaki Kanai, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, held talks today with his Chinese counterpart, Liu Jinsong, in an attempt to defuse the diplomatic row that has begun to impact personnel exchanges, tourism, education, and the entertainment sector between the two Asian neighbours.

Takaichi, known for her tough stance on China and her pro-Taiwan position, stated before a parliamentary committee on 7 November that a Chinese military attack on the island could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, potentially allowing it to exercise its right to collective self-defence.

As part of its tough response, the Chinese government urged its citizens to avoid visiting Japan and urged those planning to study there to consider carefully, citing security risks.

This advisory comes just as thousands of young Chinese recently headed to Tokyo universities, driven in part by tightener visa regulations in the United States.

Meanwhile, since last Saturday, Chinese airlines have recorded approximately 491,000 ticket cancellations for Japan, about 32 per cent of their total bookings to what is a popular destination for Chinese tourists, after Beijing advised its citizens to avoid travelling there amid the diplomatic dispute.

The percentage of affected flights jumped to 82.14 per cent on Sunday and 75.6 per cent on Monday, according to independent analyst Li Hanming, citing his research data covering all airlines based in mainland China.

“The flight-ticket cancellations (on Sunday) were 27 times that of new bookings, which shows safety concerns are the dominating factor for travel," he said, adding that he had not seen cancellations on this scale since early 2020, when COVID-19 infections rose rapidly at the end of the Chinese New Year travel period.

For his part, Japanese Education Minister Yohei Matsumoto urged Japanese students in China to be vigilant about safety.

According to Japan’s Ministry of Education, 3,391 children and students attend Japanese schools in China, while 3,133 attended university according to the most recent data from 2023.

Matsumoto cited past incidents in which children were killed or injured at Japanese schools in China. “We must avoid such a situation at all costs. We want to ensure all possible measures are taken,” he said.

Finally, responding to a Chinese statement that Premier Li Qiang has no plans to meet with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at this weekend's G20 summit in South Africa, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said: “The Japanese side is open to holding various dialogues between Japan and China,” adding that, “Nothing has been decided regarding meetings with any country on the occasion of the G-20.”

• japan
• china
• taiwan
• sanae takaichi
• li qiang
• students
• security
• universities