BEIJING: China warned its citizens on Monday (Jan 26) against travelling to Japan during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, citing deteriorating public security, with Tokyo and Beijing locked in a diplomatic spat.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan triggered a sharp backlash from China.
That included Beijing urging its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan.
The number of Chinese visitors to Japan plummeted by 45 per cent last month from a year earlier, to around 330,000, as a result of the spat.
China’s foreign ministry reiterated its travel warning on Monday by telling citizens to avoid visiting Japan, especially during the lengthy Lunar New Year holiday in February.
“Recently, public security in Japan has deteriorated, with frequent incidents of illegal and criminal acts targeting Chinese citizens,” the Chinese foreign ministry’s Department of Consular Affairs said in a statement.
“Chinese citizens in Japan face serious security threats,” the department said.
It also said there had been a series of earthquakes in some areas in the country, causing injuries.
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