FM: Facts prove Tokyo wrong on Taiwan

Given Japan's colonial rule over Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, which inflicted atrocities on the Chinese people, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has nonetheless attempted to exploit the Taiwan question to provoke trouble and threaten China militarily, which is "utterly intolerable", Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

In his talks with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in Beijing on Monday, Wang referred to Takaichi's recent provocative remarks in parliament about Taiwan, saying that the one-China principle is an important political foundation for China-Germany relations, and there is no room for ambiguity.

He noted that unlike Germany, Japan has yet to conduct a thorough reflection in the past eight decades since the end of World War II on its history of aggression.

Wadephul said Germany remains firmly committed to the one-China policy, and this position will not change.

During the talks, Wang said that Taiwan has been part of China since ancient times, and he elaborated on a seven-point fact list that clearly supports this position and records Tokyo's past official commitments regarding Taiwan.

The Cairo Declaration issued in 1943 stated that all the territories Japan had stolen from China, such as Taiwan, should be restored to China. Article 8 of the Potsdam Proclamation in 1945 stipulated that the terms of the Cairo Declaration will be carried out.

In 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally, the Japanese emperor committed to faithfully fulfilling the provisions of the Potsdam Proclamation, and the then Chinese government announced resumption of the exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan on Oct 25, 1945.

In 1971, the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758 to restore all rights to the People's Republic of China, and the UN's official legal opinion confirms that Taiwan is a province of China, Wang said.

According to the China-Japan Joint Statement of 1972, the Chinese government "reiterates that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of the PRC", and "the government of Japan fully understands and respects this stand". The 1978 Treaty of Peace and Friendship Between China and Japan confirmed that the principles set forth in the 1972 Joint Statement should be strictly observed.

As a defeated nation in World War II, Japan "should have undertaken profound reflection and acted with greater caution", as this year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945), Wang said.

He also said that attempts to seek "Taiwan independence" mean split-ting China's territory, and supporting "Taiwan independence" amounts to interference in China's internal affairs, which violates China's Constitution as well as international law.

The Chinese people, together with all peace-loving people around the world, bear the responsibility to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and they also have the obligation to prevent Japan from remilitarization and attempting to revive militaristic ambitions, he added.

"By linking the Taiwan question to Japan's 'survival-threatening situation', Takaichi and the conservative, right-wing forces behind her have stoked security anxiety among part of the Japanese public and politicians," said Wang Peng, a research fellow at Huazhong University of Science and Technology's Institute of State Governance.

This helps to pave the way for further lifting postwar legislative restrictions on Japan's military buildup and escalate tension in the Taiwan Strait, he said.

Jeffrey Sachs, a professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University in the United States, said in a lecture at the University of South Africa last month that "China went for a thousand years without once invading Japan, a near neighbor, even though China was much more powerful.

"The Japanese actually sadly invaded China many times, but never the other way around," he added.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Tuesday that during World War II, Japanese troops slaughtered more than 300,000 people in Nanjing in eastern China, killed over 100,000 in Manila in the Philippines within one month, and carried out the Singapore Massacre.

Any moves to condone provocations by Japan's right-wing forces "will only lead to the resurgence of militarism" and "put Asian people at risk again", Guo said.