Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, November 24, 2025 Real World News
Paranoia in the leadership ranks of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) grows by the day over the new Japanese prime minister the CCP is unable to control.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the protege of late PM Shinzo Abe, who China also could not get under its thumb, roiled Xi Jinping and the CCP chiefs when she said Japan could come to Taiwan’s defense if China attacks.
In a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, Xi reiterated that Taiwan’s return to mainland China is “an important part of the postwar international order,” according to China’s official propaganda outlet Xinhua.
Xi in the phone call said China and the U.S., which fought together during the war, should “jointly safeguard the victorious outcome of World War II.” [Xi neglected to mention that the CCP was not in power in China during World War II.]
Trump, meanwhile, followed his own advice [“Keep focused on your goal”], writing on Truth social about non-Taiwan points of agreement:
“I just had a very good telephone call with President Xi, of China. We discussed many topics including Ukraine/Russia, Fentanyl, Soybeans and other Farm Products, etc. We have done a good, and very important, deal for our Great Farmers — and it will only get better. Our relationship with China is extremely strong! This call was a follow up to our highly successful meeting in South Korea, three weeks ago. Since then, there has been significant progress on both sides in keeping our agreements current and accurate. Now we can set our sights on the big picture. To that end, President Xi invited me to visit Beijing in April, which I accepted, and I reciprocated where he will be my guest for a State Visit in the U.S. later in the year. We agreed that it is important that we communicate often, which I look forward to doing. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Related: Has the Chinese Communist Party lost its collective mind over Japan PM’s resolute policy? November 21, 2025
Following Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan, China’s Consul General in Osaka said on social media that Japan’s PM should be beheaded.
“Beijing presumably agreed with its Consul General and has doubled and tripled down on the verbal assaults,” Grant Newsham wrote in a Nov. 21 analysis. “As well, China is banning Japanese seafood imports and threatening to prohibit Chinese tourism to Japan and Chinese students from studying there.”
China was reportedly caught off guard when Takaichi won the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP’s) leadership election.
Xi’s regime “had expected another candidate similar to the previous two prime ministers, both of whom Beijing publicly complimented over Takaichi,” Edo Naito wrote for The Japan Times on Nov. 20.
“China has a history of favoring Japanese leaders, going back at least to Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka in the 1970s, who are inclined to comply with its ‘red lines’ and rely heavily on politicians who have been extensively exposed to the Chinese Communist Party’s influence operations, such as leadership in one of seven Japan-China friendship groups. Both Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba employed such people in their Cabinets,” Naito noted.
Once Takaichi was elected LDP leader, it appears that China used its influence over the Komeito party to try to prevent her from becoming prime minister.
“It is simply extraordinary that China’s ambassador to Japan, Wu Jianghao, personally met the Komeito leader, Tetsuo Saito, one-on-one in the parliament building just 24 hours before he ambushed Takaichi at a meeting set up to confirm the continuation of the ruling coalition,” Naito wrote.
“Instead, Saito shocked the Japanese political world by walking out of that meeting and declaring the 26-year-old alliance [with the LDP] was over. Perhaps this was just a happy coincidence for Wu, and whatever he exchanged with Saito had nothing to do with it.”
Komeito is a Buddhist, generally pro-CCP party which has been powerful in Japanese politics and is affiliated with a religious group in the U.S. that publishes WorldTribune.org which has no affiliation with WorldTribune.com.
China was taken aback once again when Takaichi immediately pivoted to the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), which is seen as being stronger on national security than even many LDP members.
“For the CCP, Takaichi plus the JIP may be its worst nightmare,” Naito wrote. “Are they out to attack her and damage the Japanese economy to cause her administration to fail? After lifting a two-year import ban on Japanese fish, allegedly due to Fukushima water discharge, it was reimposed this week solely to damage the nation’s fishing industry.”
The warning lights at CCP headquarters in Beijing went off again amid Takaichi’s successful diplomatic debut at ASEAN and APEC, and her meeting with Trump.
The communist leadership may see Takaichi as a Japanese leader around whom the countries in the “first island chain” and across a free and open Indo-Pacific would rally.
“As an ‘Abe-protege’ and a strong personal supporter of Taiwan, who in April of this year met President Lai Ching-tei and spoke about her desire to integrate Taiwan into global defense supply chains, perhaps Beijing was lying in wait for Takaichi’s first mention of the island,” Naito wrote. “Xi and the CCP leadership never liked Abe and perhaps feared him a bit. But in the end, they learned to respect him for his calm, consistent, balanced manner of engagement. For any Japanese leader, having ‘good relations’ with CCP-led China is a fool’s errand. Aim instead for respect.”
Naito continued: “In the fictional communist universe, the CCP must remain a one-party dictatorship. It has created the false narrative of it single-handedly defeating Imperial Japan in World War II — and that the Japan of today remains a perpetual threat. That theme worked exceptionally well this year, with the massive parade and events celebrating the 80th anniversary of the ‘victory over Japan.’ ”
Newsham noted:
Beijing will claim they’ve been provoked, and it’s Japan’s fault that China is doing whatever it’s doing.
But it is all pretextual. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) doesn’t get “furious” and “angry.” No matter how many times the American press writes that it does. The CCP has about as much emotion as a great white shark. And a comparable appetite. Beijing is looking to isolate and destroy Takaichi by blaming her for pointing out Beijing’s aggressive designs and suggesting Japan should defend itself.
China’s objectives towards Japan have long been clear. Dominate Japan and take Japanese territory – while heaping humiliation on the Japanese in the process.
It’s “paying Japan back” for historical wrongs, Beijing will tell you. But even if Japan had never invaded China in the 1930s, the CCP would still be out for blood.
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