China sends another letter to UN over Japan PM’s remarks
China’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday sent another letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, criticizing Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for making “provocative” remarks on Taiwan and urging her to retract them immediately.
Amid the heightened diplomatic row between the two Asian countries, the second letter by Fu Cong refuted Japan’s position, delivered by its UN ambassador, Kazuyuki Yamazaki, on Nov. 24, and accused Tokyo of “making unreasonable arguments.”
Hard-line stance
China has been taking a hard-line stance against Japan since Takaichi suggested on Nov. 7, during her parliamentary remarks, that an attack on Taiwan could constitute an existential threat to Japan and warrant a response from its Self-Defense Forces, when asked about such a hypothetical situation by an opposition lawmaker.
Fu’s letter, following one he sent to Guterres on Nov. 21, warned that “the international community must remain highly vigilant against Japan’s ambitions to expand its military capabilities and revive militarism.”
In Tokyo on Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a press conference that China’s allegations are “not true at all” and “totally unacceptable,” adding that Japan has “consistently contributed to the peace and prosperity” of the global community since the end of World War II.
Position unchanged
China views Taiwan as a renegade province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary, and Beijing has increased the scale and frequency of its military exercises around the democratic island.
In his rebuttal letter to the UN chief, Yamazaki underscored that Japan’s basic policy is an exclusively defense-oriented strategy. It argued that China’s claim, which suggested Tokyo would exercise its right to self-defense in the absence of an armed attack, is incorrect.
Yamazaki also said Japan’s position on Taiwan has not changed since it and China normalized diplomatic ties in 1972, and that Tokyo expects the Taiwan issue to be resolved peacefully through dialogue.
