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 Chine

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