The Japanese government’s senior spokesperson, Maki Kobayashi, on Saturday (November 22), denounced the Chinese Communist Party’s letter to the United Nations accusing Prime Minister Sanae Takai of changing her stance on the Taiwan issue as “completely unfounded.” She urged China to enhance dialogue to prevent the deterioration of economic relations between the two countries.
The Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, submitted a letter to the UN on Friday (November 21), attempting to garner international support for its position on the Taiwan issue. The letter stated that if Japan were to engage in military intervention in the Taiwan Strait, China would resolutely defend itself. At the same time, China accused Sanae Takai of violating international law and diplomatic norms by suggesting that Japan may respond militarily if China forcibly unifies Taiwan.
Fu Cong demanded that Japan “stop provocation, avoid crossing the line, and retract erroneous statements.”
Sanae Takai recently firmly refused to retract her statements and explained that she would learn from the situation to avoid detailing scenarios in which Japan might deploy troops in the future.
During the G20 summit, Kobayashi rebuffed the Chinese claims in the letter, stating that “the assertion that our country has changed its stance has absolutely no basis.” She emphasized that Japan is committed to maintaining dialogue with neighboring countries.
Regarding Beijing’s economic pressure measures, such as requesting Chinese tourists to cancel trips to Japan, restricting the import of Japanese seafood, and potentially further limiting the export of rare earth minerals to Japan, Kobayashi noted that while China is an important source of rare earth imports for Japan, Japan has been working to reduce its reliance on China. She reiterated that “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are crucial for national security.”
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement in an email, acknowledging Fu Cong’s letter and highlighting it as the most severe criticism of Sanae Takai by a senior Chinese official in recent years, escalating into a serious bilateral conflict.
The ministry stressed that Japan’s commitment to peace remains unchanged and rejected the Chinese claims as “completely unacceptable.”
During a parliamentary questioning on November 7, Sanae Takai abandoned Japan’s longstanding ambiguous stance towards Taiwan in cooperation with the United States, stating that if China were to launch an attack on Taiwan, located only about 100 kilometers from Japan, it could be seen as a “threat to Japan’s survival,” enabling the Japanese Prime Minister to deploy the Self-Defense Forces to respond.
The dispute between China and Japan on the Taiwan issue has been ongoing for two weeks. It has escalated beyond diplomatic levels, with China claiming that it has “seriously harmed” bilateral trade cooperation and suddenly canceling concerts of Japanese musicians and artists in China.
Bloomberg analysis suggests that the crux of the issue lies in China’s fundamental misinterpretation of Sanae Takai’s statements. China believes that Sanae’s public explanation of the relationship between the Taiwan Strait crisis and Japan’s possible military intervention has shattered Japan’s strategic ambiguity of decades. However, Japan insists that Sanae was merely responding to a hypothetical question, and there has been no change in its existing policy position.
Currently, China remains in a state of rejecting rational communication. China stated that no meeting with Japan was scheduled during the G20 summit and canceled a trilateral meeting originally planned for November with the cultural ministers of Japan and South Korea.
As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China has repeatedly invoked the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, asserting that Taiwan’s sovereignty should belong to China (PRC).
However, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) pointed out on September 12 that China misinterprets documents from World War II, such as the Cairo Declaration, in an attempt to pressure Taiwan. In fact, these documents do not determine Taiwan’s ultimate political status.
(The article references reports from Bloomberg and Reuters)