China warns Japan of 'crushing defeat' should it dare to take risk on Taiwan question

A Chinese defense spokesperson on Friday warned the Japanese side of a "crushing defeat" should it dare to take a risk on the Taiwan question.

Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks at a press conference in response to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's recent comments that the Japanese Self-Defense Force could exercise the right of collective self-defense if the Chinese mainland uses military forces against China's Taiwan region.

"The erroneous remarks on Taiwan made by the Japanese leader constitute a gross interference in China's internal affairs, and a serious violation of the one-China principle, the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan, and the basic norms governing international relations," said Jiang.

The remarks have challenged the post-war international order and sent very wrong signals to the Taiwan secessionists, he said. "Such words are egregious in nature and have caused very negative impact. They are extremely irresponsible and dangerous," he added.

The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair, which brooks no foreign interference, Jiang reiterated.

"Should the Japanese side fail to draw lessons from history and dare to take a risk, or even use force to interfere in the Taiwan question, it will only suffer a crushing defeat against the steel-willed People's Liberation Army and pay a heavy price," Jiang said.

(With input from Xinhua)