Lai called on Beijing to "show restraint, act like a major power, and not become the troublemaker" in the Asia-Pacific region, where peace and stability have been "severely impacted".
The diplomatic feud between China and Japan was ignited by Takaichi's suggestion that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan.
China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the democratic island under its control.
Taiwan, which has never been ruled by communist China, was a Japanese colony for 50 years until the end of World War II.
While Japan, like most countries, does not recognise Taiwan's claim to statehood, Tokyo and Taipei maintain close unofficial ties.
Speaking to reporters, Lai said: "China should return to the path of a rules-based international order, which would help maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the region."
The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to 1949 when nationalist forces fled to the island after losing the Chinese civil war to communist fighters.
Fury in China over Japan PM's Taiwan comments
Beijing (AFP) Nov 17, 2025 -
Chinese media and ordinary citizens expressed outrage Monday towards Japan, as an escalating diplomatic spat threatens to wreck relations strained by historical grievances and strategic rivalry.
Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on November 7 that the use of force against self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims, could warrant a military response from Tokyo.
"What does our country's unification have to do with them?" said 36-year-old Sun Gang, a Beijing restaurant industry worker, referring to China's goal of taking Taiwan.
"It's like someone interfering in your own family," he told AFP.
China, which has not ruled out using force to take Taiwan, has reacted furiously to Takaichi's comments, calling for her to retract the remarks and summoning the Japanese ambassador on Friday.
In a post on X on November 8, the Chinese consul general in Osaka, Xue Jian, threatened to "cut off that dirty neck", apparently referring to Takaichi, who took office in October.
Tokyo said it had summoned the Chinese ambassador over the now-deleted social media post.
Japan occupied Taiwan for decades until 1945, when it was defeated in World War II.
On Friday, the Chinese embassy warned its citizens to avoid visiting Japan, citing "significant risks" to their safety.
"Recently, Japanese leaders have made blatantly provocative remarks regarding Taiwan, severely damaging the atmosphere for people-to-people exchanges," the embassy wrote in a WeChat post.
- 'Pay the price' -
Condemnation has also raged online, with three of the top five trending topics on the social media platform Weibo related to the spat with Japan on Monday morning.
Official media have also ramped up criticism of Takaichi.
A Monday opinion piece in the ruling communist party's official newspaper, People's Daily, said: "Sanae Takaichi throwing around fallacious remarks about Taiwan is tantamount to reviving the spectre of militarism.
"This fully exposes the extremely wrong and dangerous historical... and strategic views of the right-wing forces in Japan," it read, calling it a "dangerous shift in Japan's strategic direction".
A commentary by state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday said "if Sanae Takaichi refuses to repent, Japan will be eternally doomed".
Despite the escalating rhetoric, Beijing tech-worker Daniel Feng called the Chinese government's responses "very restrained" given Takaichi's "extremely unreasonable" remarks.
"I very much support our government's statements, including its condemnations," the 40-year-old said.
"If she spouts words, that's not a problem... but if they take real action, our country's military will definitely defeat them."
Beijing's defence ministry warned on Friday that Japan would "pay a painful price" if it stepped into any conflict over Taiwan.
Japan-China spat over Taiwan comments sinks tourism stocks
Tokyo (AFP) Nov 17, 2025 -
Japanese tourism and retail shares dived on Monday after China warned its citizens to avoid the tourist hotspot in a spat over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's comments on Taiwan.
A senior Japanese official meanwhile arrived in China seeking to defuse the row sparked by Takaichi's suggestion that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on the self-ruled island.
Asia's two top economies are closely entwined, with China the biggest source of tourists -- almost 7.5 million visitors in the first nine months of 2025 -- coming to Japan.
Drawn by a weak yen making shopping cheaper, they collectively splurged more than a billion dollars a month in the third quarter, accounting for almost 30 percent of all tourist spending.
Japan was also the fourth-most popular destination for Chinese tourists last year, helping the land of Mount Fuji, sushi and geishas set new records for foreign arrivals.
But in fears that this may now stop, investors wiped nine percent off Japanese cosmetics firm Shiseido's market value on Monday.
Department store group Mitsukoshi fell 11.3 percent and Pan Pacific, behind discount retail chain and tourist magnet Don Quijote, slid 5.3 percent.
Japan Airlines, whose shares nosedived 3.4 percent, has not seen any major cancellations on flights to and from China, a spokesperson told AFP.
Before taking power last month, Takaichi was a vocal critic of China and its military build-up in the Asia-Pacific.
If a Taiwan emergency entails "battleships and the use of force, then that could constitute a situation threatening the survival (of Japan)", Takaichi, 64, told parliament on November 7.
Under Japan's self-imposed rules, an existential threat is one of the few cases where it can act militarily. Taiwan sits around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the nearest Japanese island.
- 'Troublemaker' -
Japan said Monday it scrambled aircraft after detecting a suspected Chinese drone near its southern island of Yonaguni, which is close to Taiwan, on Saturday.
Beijing insists Taiwan -- which Japan occupied for decades until 1945 -- is part of its territory, and the prime minister's comments have sparked a furore.
This has included a Chinese diplomat stationed in Japan threatening to "cut off that dirty neck", apparently referring to Takaichi, and China and Japan have summoned each other's ambassadors.
Beijing also advised its citizens to avoid travelling to the country and warned the roughly 100,000 Chinese students in Japan that there were risks to their safety.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters on Monday that the announcements were "incompatible with the broader direction agreed upon by the leaders of the two nations".
On Sunday, Chinese coast guard vessels spent several hours in Japan's territorial waters around the disputed Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu in China and a frequent flashpoint, Kihara said.
In Beijing, tech worker Daniel Feng called the Chinese government's responses "very restrained" given Takaichi's "extremely unreasonable" remarks.
"If she spouts words, that's not a problem... but if they take real action, our country's military will definitely defeat them," the 40-year-old told AFP.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te called on Beijing on Monday to "show restraint, act like a major power, and not become the troublemaker" in the Asia-Pacific region, where peace and stability have been "severely impacted".
"China should return to the path of a rules-based international order, which would help maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the region," Lai told reporters.
- Economic hit -
Beijing meanwhile said than Chinese premier Li Qiang has no plans to meet with Takaichi in a G20 summit in South Africa later this week which they are both set to attend.
A Japanese government official told AFP that Masaaki Kanai, the top foreign ministry official for Asia-Pacific affairs, arrived in China on Monday.
"We are trying not to escalate the situation," the official told AFP.
Kanai is expected to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Liu Jinsong on Tuesday, according to media reports.
The diplomatic spat could spell further bad news for Japan's economy, which shrank by 0.4 percent in the third quarter, official data showed on Monday.
Marcel Thieliant at Capital Economics warned that the tensions risked escalating "into a full-blown trade spat" similar to a previous episode in the early 2010s.
This could include China restricting exports of rare earths or imposing restrictions on Japanese exports.
"Carmakers look particularly vulnerable as they are already under enormous pressure from the ascent of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers," Thieliant added.
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