Chinese soldiers ride in tanks as they pass in front of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City during a military parade. Photo / Getty Images
Chinese soldiers ride in tanks as they pass in front of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City during a military parade. Photo / Getty Images
"We will use nuclear bombs first. We will use nuclear bombs continuously. We will do this until Japan declares unconditional surrender for the second time," a threatening video circulated among official Chinese Communist Party channels warns.
"When we liberate Taiwan, if Japan dares to intervene by force – even if it only deploys one soldier, one plane or one ship – we will not only return fire but also wage full-scale war against Japan itself."
Tensions between Tokyo and Beijing have spiked high in recent weeks.
Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said: "We must defend Taiwan, under our alliance with the US".
Defence Minister Yasuhide Nakayama added Japan and the US must "protect Taiwan as a democratic country".
#CCP Vows to Nuke #Japan if Japan defends #Taiwan. As Japan is the only country that has been nuked, so nuking Japan "will get twice the result with half the effort." 中共軍事頻道威脅對日本實施連續核打擊，直到日本第二次無條件投降。 pic.twitter.com/dp45R2LXtD
"We will never allow anyone to intervene in the Taiwan question in any way," retorted Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian at a press briefing last week.
But a Chinese Communist Party approved video channel with close ties to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) took the anger to the next level.
At the weekend, it called on Beijing to abandon its "no first-use" nuclear weapons policy.
"In 1964, when our first atomic bomb was successfully detonated, we promised the world that we would not use atomic weapons against non-nuclear countries, and we would not be the first to use them," the narrator recites.
"Nearly 60 years have passed. Now the international situation has changed dramatically. Our country is in the midst of a major change. And all political policies, tactics and strategies must be adjusted to protect the peaceful rise of our country.
"It is necessary to make limited adjustments to our nuclear policy."
The threat of nuclear weapon use over Taiwan is "very real" says Professor Fruhling. Photo / Getty
Fire and fury
"Some of that's pretty crazy stuff!" says Professor Stephan Fruhling of the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. "I think we can glean from this that the notion that Japan would assist Taiwan has really hit a nerve."
The first five-minute clip was published on Sunday. A second, longer version went online a day later. Both were deleted Wednesday after being reposted by Communist Party officials, attracting millions of views, tens of thousands of patriotic comments – and international attention.
It's also just the latest officially sanctioned video threatening to attack the West.
Last year, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) released a recruitment video following an H-6K strategic bomber as it simulated a strike on the US territory of Guam.
According to Chinese-born human rights activist Jennifer Zeng, the publishing channel Wisdom & Strategies for 6 Armies "either belongs (to the) PLA or has strong connections", citing business news reports of its ownership and financial links.
Exactly how official the sentiment expressed in the video clips is uncertain.
What is certain is Beijing's unhappiness with Tokyo.
"Japan is the only country in the world that has been hit by atomic bombs. It has a deep memory of this from the government down to the people," a transcript of one of the videos reads.
"Nuclear deterrence against Japan will get twice the result with half the effort.
"By singling out Japan as an 'exception' to our commitment not to use or be the first to use nuclear weapons, we are warning Japan and informing the world that if Japan interferes militarily in our domestic affairs – including the unification of Taiwan with the mainland – nuclear weapons will surely be used against them.
"They will be used continuously until its unconditional surrender. There will be no peace talks."
"If Taiwan falls, Okinawa will be next. We must think about this seriously and steadfastly prepare our defence might," Deputy Prime Minister Aso said on Monday, July 5.
"If a major problem occurs over Taiwan, it can be said to be related to Japan's survival … We must defend Taiwan under our alliance with the US."
Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Zhao called Aso "extremely wrong and dangerous". He said the deputy prime minister's words "undermine the political foundation of China-Japan relations".
He went on to quote Chairman Xi Jinping's Communist Party 100th anniversary speech: "No one should underestimate the great resolve, strong will and extraordinary capability of the Chinese people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity."
Beijing was already in a bad mood.
Just a week earlier, state Minister of Defence Yasuhide Nakayama said Japan and the US needed to "wake up" to the regional security threat. "We have to wake up. We have to prepare. We have to protect Taiwan as a democratic country."
He said any takeover of Taiwan would directly threaten nearby disputed islands, including Japan's Okinawa Prefecture.
"Democratic countries have to protect democratic countries and allies," he added.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the remarks "erroneous." He said Beijing had "lodged solemn representations" with Tokyo over Nakayama's use of the word "country" concerning Taiwan.
Then, on Tuesday, Japan released its annual defence review.
It names China as Japan's primary national security concern.
A mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb dropped by the B-29 bomber Enola Gay over the city of Hiroshima in August 1945. Photo / Getty
"It is necessary that we pay close attention to the situation with a sense of crisis more than ever," the paper said in a new chapter dedicated to Taiwan.
China will 'destroy' Japan
Professor Fruhling says he doesn't expect the nuclear threat to be echoed by Beijing's higher echelons.
"My sense though is that they will squash this kind of rhetoric insofar as it is only likely to strengthen the case for the US to rely more heavily on nuclear weapons in the Indo-Pacific as well," he told news.com.au.
But the editor-in-chief of the Chinese Communist Party's tabloid Global Times news service exposed Beijing's hostile mood in a post last week.
Hu Xijin wrote that "when Taiwan Strait hostilities do break out, Japan had better stay far away".
