China-Japan ferry halts service as tensions over Takaichi remarks flare

A passenger ferry named after an ancient monk seen as a symbol of Sino-Japanese cultural exchange has suspended its service as Beijing continues its retaliation for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan.

The Jian Zhen Hao ferry from Shanghai to Japan’s Osaka and Kobe has been suspended since Saturday “due to a request from the Chinese side” over concerns that the safety of travel between the two countries could not be guaranteed, according to the operator, Japan-China International Ferry, in a statement on Monday.

The Japanese company said the suspension would last “for the time being” and it had not yet decided when services would resume.

The suspension was the latest in the fallout from diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Tokyo sparked by comments Takaichi made a month ago, when she told the Japanese parliament that an attack on Taiwan by the People’s Liberation Army might qualify as a “survival-threatening situation”, which could allow Japan to deploy its military forces.

Takaichi’s comments enraged Beijing, which considers the remarks an interference in its internal affairs and a departure from Tokyo’s long-term strategic ambiguity over Taiwan. Beijing has since launched a series of retaliatory measures to put economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Japan.

China has told its citizens to avoid travel to Japan. On Friday, major Chinese airlines said they had extended an offer of full refunds for flights to Japan for another three months to March 28 next year.

South China Morning Post