China-Japan feud: How Takaichi's Taiwan comments drew fury from Beijing

China and Japan are locked in a furious diplomatic spat over Prime Minister Sanae Takaich said an attack on Taiwan could draw a military response from Tokyo.

HONG KONG — Military threats, summoned ambassadors and even references to beheading: China and Japan are locked in a furious diplomatic spat over Taiwan, with Beijing unleashing language that is far from diplomatic.

The Chinese outrage is directed at Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who told lawmakers last week that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could force a military response from Tokyo, an unusually explicit statement that experts say is a first for a sitting Japanese prime minister.

China, which claims the self-ruling island democracy as its territory and has not ruled out the use of force against it, has demanded that Takaichi retract her “egregious” remarks.

Others have gone further: One prominent Chinese commentator called Takaichi an “evil witch,” while a Chinese diplomat in Japan talked about cutting off the “dirty neck” extending itself into what Beijing considers an internal matter.

Both countries have summoned each other’s ambassadors as the saga enters its second week.