Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief and was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.
Xi Jinping is unlikely to respond to Sanae Takaichi's Taiwan remark in the same way Beijing answered Japan when it nationalized the Senkaku Islands in 2012 -- by unleashing anti-Japan protests that spread across China. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Ken Suzuki and Yusuke Hinata)
China up close
Analysis: Xi Jinping hesitates to draw double-edged sword of anti-Japan protests
Whipping up unrest could unleash Chinese people's pent-up economic frustrations
Read Next
Latest on China up close
