By John Geddie and Laurie Chen
TOKYO/BEIJING (Reuters) -Japan said on Monday it had complained to China about "extremely inappropriate" remarks made by one of its diplomats towards Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, which the United States characterised as threatening.
China's Consul General in Osaka posted the comment on social media in response to Takaichi telling Japan's parliament on Friday that a hypothetical Chinese attack on democratically-ruled Taiwan could result in Tokyo needing to take military action for self-defense.
Takaichi described the eventuality as "a situation threatening Japan's survival" in comments that followed a meeting with a Taiwanese representative at a regional summit in Seoul earlier this month that also angered Beijing.
On Saturday, Chinese diplomat Xue Jian shared an article in the Asahi newspaper referencing Takaichi's remarks and wrote: "We have no choice but to cut off that dirty neck that has lunged at us without a moment's hesitation. Are you ready?"
The post was subsequently deleted.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said on Monday that while the intent of Xue's post "was not entirely clear", it was "extremely inappropriate".
Japan's foreign ministry and the Japanese embassy in China lodged a strong protest with Beijing and demanded the deletion of the post, Kihara said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular news conference on Monday that Xue's post was a response to Takaichi's "wrongful and dangerous" remarks on Taiwan, urging Tokyo to "take a hard look at its historical responsibilities".
Asked by a reporter whether Japan would expel the envoy, Kihara said Xue had made "multiple inappropriate statements" and that Japan has made repeated representations to Beijing to take appropriate action.
Sharing the deleted post on X on Monday, U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass said Xue had threatened Takaichi and the Japanese people.
"The mask slips - again," Glass said.
(Reporting by John Geddie, Tim Kelly and Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo; Laurie Chen and Antoni Slodkowski in Beijing; Editing by Neil Fullick and Saad Sayeed)
