China Steps Up ‘Wolf Warrior’ Diplomacy Against Japan, Hurling Accusation About Plutonium Stockpile

By Akiko Yoshinaga and Shotaro Demizu / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondents

21:01 JST, November 23, 2025

China is ratcheting up its wolf warrior diplomacy to spread its claims and exert pressure on Japan via international organizations and overseas diplomatic missions, in response to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark on a possible Taiwan contingency.

On Friday, Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the United Nations, sent a letter to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, according to the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations. In the letter he explained Beijing’s stance on Takaichi’s remark during recent Diet deliberations, in which she said a Taiwan contingency could constitute a “survival-threatening” situation for Japan.

The letter asserted that Takaichi’s “remarks … seriously undermine the post-war international order, and represent an open provocation … to the peoples of other Asian countries that once suffered from Japanese aggression.”

It added, “If Japan dares to attempt an armed intervention in the cross-Strait situation … China will resolutely exercise its right of self-defence … and firmly defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Chinese diplomatic establishments overseas have repeatedly posted messages on their X accounts in English and local languages. The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines has posted an illustration depicting Takaichi burning the pacifist Constitution, implying a revival of militarism.

The Chinese Embassy in Australia has shared a video of a state-run media host saying, “The West must not forget the hard lessons of World War II.”

Beijing has also launched a propaganda campaign claiming that Japan is undermining its three nonnuclear principles of not possessing, not producing and not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons.

Also on Friday, China’s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency claimed at a board of governors meeting that Japan has produced and stockpiled far more plutonium than it needs for civilian use.

Japan reports its plutonium stockpiles held domestically and abroad to the IAEA, but China has not disclosed its figures since 2016. Some say Beijing is obscuring the size of its plutonium stockpiles, which could be used for nuclear weapons.

Panda loans could end

By Miho Tamura / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

SHANGHAI — China may not offer Japan a new loan of giant pandas if tensions between the two countries continue, the online edition of the Beijing Daily reported Thursday.

The only pandas currently in Japan are the twins in Tokyo’s Ueno Zoological Gardens — Xiao Xiao, a male, and Lei Lei, a female. Both are due to be returned to China next February.

“Japan will be faced with a situation where there could be no pandas in the country,” an expert was quoted as saying in the official newspaper of the Beijing municipal committee of the Communist Party of China.

Chinese authorities have long used loans of the popular animal as a diplomatic bargaining chip.

Following the news report, posts opposing panda loans for Japan have surfaced on Chinese social media, with one message reading, “There’s absolutely no need to loan them.” But some expressed contrasting views, with one post saying: “Pandas are a symbol of friendship. I hope one day the two countries can cooperate.”