Taiwan president shares photo of sushi lunch after China ban on Japanese seafood

Against a backdrop of an ongoing spat between China and Japan, Taiwan's President William Lai posted a photo of himself eating a platter of Japanese seafood for lunch on Nov. 20.

He described the meal in his caption, which includes hamachi sushi from Kagoshima and scallops from Hokkaido, and miso soup, a Japanese staple.

The post led to more pro-Japan comments from other members of Taiwan's legislative body, with many expressing their support for continued friendly relations between Taiwan and Japan.

Clapback?

A leader with a history of seemingly pro-Taiwan independence sentiments, Lai's potentially provocative post also comes a day after China reimposed its ban on imports of Japanese seafood.

According to a Chinese government official, the move is to meant to monitor treated radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, Kyodo News reported.

However, there could be another reason for the ban.

War of words

China-Japan relations soured after Japan's newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made remarks in parliament on Nov. 7 about the Taiwan Strait.

She said that an attack on Taiwan by China could amount to a "survival-threatening situation" and trigger a military response from Tokyo.

Following that, China's Consul General Xue Jian in Osaka shared a news article supposedly alluding to Takaichi in a now-deleted tweet that said "the dirty neck that sticks itself in must be cut off".

This sparked off "a strong protest" by the Japanese foreign ministry and calls for his expulsion.

On Nov. 14, Beijing advised Chinese citizens against travelling to Japan.

About 491,000 China-Japan flight tickets have been cancelled since the warning.

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Top images via Lai Ching-te/Facebook & Canva (for illustrative purposes only)