China's state-owned firms urge staff to avoid Japan trips as tensions rise

 The development comes after tensions flared up between the two countries following the remarks made by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi over Taiwan.

Takaichi, on November 7, told Parliament that any assault in the Taiwan Strait could be deemed a “survival-threatening situation", allowing the government to authorise military deployment.

 Condemning her remarks, Beijing sought a retraction and accused Takaichi of "meddling" in the country's internal affairs.

While China still awaits a retraction from Takaichi, the tensions have simmered further, with Beijing cancelling a series of exchange events, issuing an advisory for those travelling to Japan and encouraging students planning to study in Japan to reconsider.

 As with many staff members at China’s state-owned enterprises, he is allowed to travel overseas only with company approval. His leave had been cleared last month, and he was scheduled to fly to Osaka in late November.

 On the Chinese social media site RedNote, dozens of users have shared posts over the past two days claiming that their public sector employers had told them to call off planned trips to Japan.

By Monday, Chinese carriers had logged around 491,000 cancellations for Japan-bound flights, roughly 32 per cent of all bookings to what is normally a popular destination, according to independent aviation analyst Li Hanming, who drew the figures from his research on all mainland-based airlines.

Japan received more than 6.7 million visitors from China in the first eight months of 2025, marking a sharp rise from 4.6 million during the same period a year earlier, according to the Japan National Tourism Organisation.

Sources reported that China remained Japan’s largest source of foreign tourists through the first three quarters of the year.