Tokyo and Beijing have given different accounts of the clash as relations between the two countries continue to sour following comments made by Japan’s prime minister about Taiwan.<\/p>\n
Her quiet, determined performance came just one day after another Japanese singer faced a much more abrupt interruption.<\/p>\n
Maki Otsuki, best known for singing the theme song of the popular anime One Piece, had only just begun her set at Bandai Namco Festival in Shanghai when the venue suddenly went dark.<\/p>\n
Her microphone was cut, the stage lights were switched off, and two staff members led her away as confused fans looked on.<\/p>\n
The organisers soon informed the audience that the performance was cancelled due to “inevitable reasons”, before calling off the rest of the day’s programming.<\/p>\n
Silenced pop stars are just one example of how relations between China and Japan have continued to sour since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s controversial comments about Taiwan<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n More events cancelled A planned performance by Japanese jazz musicians in Beijing was halted shortly before showtime. (Supplied: Reuters)<\/p>\n The cancellations of the two Shanghai concerts were not isolated incidents.<\/p>\n In total, more than 20 Japanese events scheduled between late November and early December were called off with little warning.<\/p>\n Last month, 80-year-old jazz musician Yoshio Suzuki was preparing for a show in Beijing when plain-clothes police told the venue that all performances with Japanese participants needed to be cancelled.<\/p>\n His concert and several upcoming shows at the same club were immediately halted.\u00a0<\/p>\n Within days, cancellations or postponements of cultural events had spread across the country.<\/p>\n These included performances by Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara, a new Crayon Shin-chan film \u2014 from the hugely popular Japanese manga and anime series \u2014 and an 18-city tour of the Sailor Moon musical.<\/p>\n Comedy shows planned by Japanese entertainment company Yoshimoto Kogyo during the Shanghai Comedy Festival were also dropped.<\/p>\n In December, more than 40 per cent of scheduled flights from China to Japan were reportedly cancelled, amounting to over 1,900 flights. (Reuters:\u00a0Loren Elliott)<\/p>\n The cancellations came after Ms Takaichi told the Japanese parliament last month that a hypothetical Chinese attack on democratically ruled Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.<\/p>\n Her comments sparked a furious response from Chinese officials, with one diplomat threatening to “cut off that dirty neck” \u2014 in an apparent reference to the Japanese leader.<\/p>\n In another escalation on Tuesday, Japan’s coast guard said Chinese coast guard patrol ships entered Japan’s territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea,<\/a> a flashpoint between the two nations.<\/p>\n Diplomatic tensions between China and Japan have spilled into the cultural sphere, prompting widespread event cancellations. (ABC News)<\/p>\n Li Hao, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo, said Beijing had interpreted Ms Takaichi’s comment to mean that Tokyo had shifted its long-standing position.<\/p>\n That position, outlined in a 1972 communique between the two countries, was that Japan supported Beijing’s One China policy, that there is only one Chinese state, and Taiwan is part of China.<\/p>\n “If Japan had not raised those questions about Taiwan, China would not be tightening cultural controls in this way,” Dr Li said.<\/p>\n “They will argue it is Japan that changed its position, not China. Few outside China would accept that logic, but that is how they see it.”<\/p>\n ‘Enemy state clauses’ Experts say Beijing’s approach could harden anti-China sentiment in Japan.<\/p>\n \u00a0 (Reuters: Dado Ruvic\/Illustration\/File Photo)<\/p>\n The diplomatic mood darkened further when China’s embassy in Tokyo issued a social media post in November, which referenced “enemy state clauses” in a UN charter.<\/p>\n It stated that if countries like Japan took steps toward renewed aggression, countries like China have the right to take military action.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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