Tourists take pictures near Japan's Mount Fuji last month. Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images Beijing —

China has warned its citizens against traveling to Japan as it escalates a backlash over comments by the country’s prime minister about the island of Taiwan.

The dictum is Beijing’s most substantive retaliation yet to Sanae Takaichi’s remarks. Even as it may be more symbolic than anything, the move suggests Beijing is willing to wield its economic heft to press geopolitical points, a well-worn playbook.

Recent “blatantly provocative remarks on Taiwan” have “further damaged the atmosphere for people-to-people exchanges… creating additional risks to the safety and security of Chinese citizens in Japan,” a statement published by the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Friday.

The ministry an

See Full Page