The number of Chinese residents in Japan has continued to rise, even as ties between the two countries have become increasingly fractious, data released on Friday showed.
As of the end of December last year, the number of Chinese residents had increased by 6.5 percent from the previous year to 930,428. Chinese people accounted for 22.6 percent of all foreign residents in Japan, making them by far the largest group, Japanese Ministry of Justice data showed.
Beijing has criticized Tokyo in increasingly strident terms since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year suggested that a military conflict around Taiwan could prompt Japan to dispatch its own military. China sees Taiwan as part of its territory.
Photo: AFP
China stepped up its rhetoric again this week after an officer belonging to the Japanese Self-Defense Forces breached the grounds of China’s embassy in Tokyo armed with a knife.
The man was arrested and Japan’s top government spokesman expressed regret over the incident.
The data on residents comes as Chinese tourist numbers plunge following government warnings to steer clear of Japan. Visits by Chinese nationals are down by more than half so far this year compared with the same period last year.
The overall number of foreign residents in Japan climbed 9.5 percent from the previous year to 4.13 million, compared with Japan’s total population of about 123 million.
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