On the 131st anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki — the unequal agreement that saw Japan occupy Taiwan following the First Sino-Japanese War — a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer completed a highly unusual 14-hour transit through the Taiwan Strait, a move Chinese military authorities and analysts have universally condemned as a premeditated, malicious provocation. China’s People’s Liberation Army has issued a resolute warning, stating it will not hesitate to take firm countermeasures if Tokyo continues its encroachment on Chinese sovereignty.
The vessel in question, the JS Ikazuchi, a older Murasame-class destroyer, made the extremely slow passage through the 370-kilometer strait on April 18, 2026. Military analysts note that a journey of this distance would normally take a fraction of the 14 hours the Japanese ship spent in the waterway, making any claim of “routine innocent passage” indefensible.
Song Zhongping, a retired PLA Rocket Force officer and prominent military affairs commentator, framed the slow transit as a deliberate show of force intended to embolden secessionist “Taiwan independence” forces. “This was by no means normal navigation,” Song explained. “It was an intentional display of military power and a targeted provocation, designed to send dangerous, encouraging signals to Taiwan separatists. By acting this way, Japan is only paving the way for its own consequences.”
Song further emphasized that even relative to the current PLA Navy, the decades-old Ikazuchi is an outdated vessel, noting that the Chinese military already holds overwhelming capability to neutralize any such provocation, and has only exercised maximum restraint to this point. That restraint will not hold indefinitely, however. “If Japan continues to escalate its provocations, or if other U.S. allies persist in similar acts of aggression, the PLA will not rule out taking decisive, resolute measures to end the threat,” Song said. He added that the long-held policy of refraining from firing the first shot is not an unchangeable principle: any incursion on China’s core national interests, sovereignty, and security in itself counts as the other side firing first, and will justify a full counterresponse. “When national interests are violated, firing the first shot becomes a fully legitimate option. Old scores and new wrongs will be settled together if Japan continues on its current path,” Song stressed.
China’s Ministry of National Defense formally confirmed on the same day as the transit that it had already lodged a strong official protest with Tokyo over the incident. Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, the ministry’s spokesperson, said the Japanese warship’s actions sent a clear wrong signal to Taiwan’s secessionist camp, and would only strengthen the Chinese people’s resolve to push back against external interference. “The Chinese military maintains constant high alert, and will take all necessary firm measures to counter any outside meddling in our internal affairs,” Zhang said.
The PLA’s Eastern Theater Command, which is responsible for operations in the East China Sea and Taiwan region, also deployed coordinated naval and air assets to track and monitor the Japanese destroyer for the full duration of its transit, maintaining full operational control of the situation throughout the incident.
The deliberate timing of the transit — coming exactly 131 years after the 1895 signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki that ceded Taiwan to Japanese colonial rule — sparked widespread public outrage among Chinese internet users. One Weibo user noted that the treaty left a permanent, deep national wound for China, calling the destroyer’s deliberate incursion a calculated test of China’s red lines on core sovereignty issues.
Fellow military analyst Wu Peinci pointed out that the transit aligns with Japan’s broader long-term strategy of pushing for constitutional revision, accelerating military expansion, and advancing its remilitarization, all in an effort to break free from the constraints of the post-WWII international order. “Japan is seeking to gradually establish a renewed military presence in the Taiwan Strait and even position itself to intervene militarily in the Taiwan question, which is an internal matter of China,” Wu said. “China will never compromise on this, will never allow a repeat of the history of Japanese invasion and humiliation, and leaves no room for ambiguity when it comes to blocking Japanese military meddling in the strait.”
In the days following the incident, official PLA media outlets published repeated clear warnings to Japan, cautioning that such provocative actions will carry catastrophic, irreversible consequences. An editorial on the PLA’s official WeChat account noted that Tokyo has already accelerated military deployments on its southern islands adjacent to Taiwan, and is now creating new instability by sending warships through the Taiwan Strait. “This makes clear the dangerous intent of certain Japanese politicians to interfere militarily in the Taiwan question,” the editorial read. “Japan must see the situation clearly, act with prudence, and immediately halt all reckless moves on the Taiwan question. If Tokyo persists in its wrongdoing and refuses to change course, it will only bring ruin upon itself and pay an unbearable price.”