By Foster Wong and Jacob Gu, Bloomberg News

China urged its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan in the near term, escalating a conflict over comments from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting potential intervention in the event of a military conflict over Taiwan.

The measure, the first significant retaliation taken by Beijing in the row, was sparked by Takaichi’s remarks last week that military force used in any Taiwan conflict could be considered a “survival-threatening situation” — a classification that would provide a legal justification for Japan to intervene.

“The Japanese leader has recently made brazenly provocative remarks concerning Taiwan, seriously undermining the atmosphere for China-Japan exchanges and posing major risks to the personal safety and lives of Chinese citi

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