Japan PM's Taiwan comments slammed

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's latest remarks once again "reveal the ambitions of Japan's right-wing forces to provoke confrontation, advance remilitarization, and challenge the postwar international order", Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

During a debate on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, Takaichi said Japan's strategic alliance with the United States would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan.

In the event of a contingency in the Taiwan Strait, the US and Japan might take coordinated action to evacuate their citizens, she added.

"This has posed a serious threat to regional peace and stability as well as the political foundation of China-Japan relations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said in response at a daily news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

"The international community must remain highly vigilant and resolutely reject this," he added.

Guo noted that Japan once colonized Taiwan for half a century from 1895 to 1945, committed countless crimes, and bears serious historical responsibility to the Chinese people.

"Japan has no right whatsoever to comment on China's Taiwan, either from a historical or legal perspective," Guo said.

Beijing again urges Tokyo to "earnestly reflect on its mistakes and correct them and stop its manipulations and reckless actions on the Taiwan question", he added.

Liu Jiangyong, a professor of Japanese studies at Tsinghua University, said great attention should be directed to the current turbulence in Japan's domestic political landscape and the resurgence of right-wingers and populism there.

"While publicizing its objection to 'changes of status quo by the use of force' on international occasions, the Japanese government has been ignoring the UN Charter and China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship when advancing the security agenda," he said.

"Also, Tokyo has been substantially targeting neighboring countries by developing and deploying weapons capable of preemptive attacks," he added.

In November, Takaichi became the first incumbent Japanese prime minister to publicly state in Japan's parliament the country's possible military intervention in Taiwan. So far, Tokyo has refused to retract her comment.

On Monday in New York, China's permanent representative to the United Nations Fu Cong again urged Japan to reflect on and correct Takaichi's fallacious remarks about Taiwan.

When addressing the UN Security Council's open debate on the international rule of law on Monday, Fu noted that Taiwan's return to China is an outcome of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War and an important component of the postwar international order.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn