In the end, there was no honeymoon period.
Just two weeks ago, Japan’s new prime minister Sanae Takaichi was shaking hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Now, relations between the two Asian nations have dramatically soured, with escalating nationalist rhetoric in China and even an apparent threat of beheading from one of its diplomats.
Takaichi, who was elected as Japan’s first female prime minister just last month, has become embroiled in a growing row with Beijing over Taiwan – the democratic island that China’s ruling Communist Party claims as its own, and a red line it has warned other countries not to cross.
The furor began when Takaichi told the Japanese parliament on…
