China has intensified its backlash following Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s remarks in parliament regarding a potential Taiwan contingency.

An economist at Nomura Research Institute put the economic loss caused by the Chinese government’s call on its people to refrain from traveling to Japan at an estimated 1.8 trillion yen.

The rift between Japan and China has deepened following Takaichi’s comments concerning a Taiwan contingency.

Takaichi, seen as a China hawk, told a parliamentary committee session on November 7 that if China uses military force against Taiwan, that would constitute a crisis situation threatening the survival of Japan.

This is a hotel in Beijing on November 18.

S/ Yanagisawa Takashi, NNN Beijing bureau chief / The Foreign Ministry’s director general Kanai has just left the hotel.

Senior officials of the Japanese and Chinese foreign ministries met for several hours to try to calm the situation.

After the talks, Kanai Masaaki, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and Liu Jinsong, head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Department of Asian Affairs, emerged.

Liu had both of his hands in his pockets.

Kanai did not respond to questions from reporters.

S/ Liu Jinsong, Chinese Foreign Ministry / Of course we are not satisfied (with the content of the meeting).

S/ Reporter / What was the atmosphere like?

S/ Liu Jinsong, Chinese Foreign Ministry / Solemn.

The Japanese government intends to continue dialogue with China to try to diffuse tensions.

The city of Handa in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, has a sister-city relationship with the Chinese city of Xuzhou.

It had been scheduled to host a delegation from Xuzhou on November 18 for visits to a museum and other places.

S/ NNN Reporter / They were scheduled to view an exhibition of works by children from Handa and Xuzhou, but the visit has been postponed.

Handa officials said they received an email from their contact in Xuzhou three days earlier, notifying them about the postponement.

The email said an urgent and important official duty with overlapping schedule came up, and they had no choice but to postpone the visit.

It is unclear whether the development has any causal link to Takaichi’s remarks.