Chinese FM warns against Japan's challenge to post-war international order

MUNICH, Germany -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday urged vigilance against recent dangerous trends in Japan, stating that the Japanese leadership's erroneous remarks regarding the Taiwan question directly challenge China's sovereignty and the post-war international order.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks at the "China in the World" session at the 62nd Munich Security Conference, where he delivered a speech and answered questions.

Responding to a question about China's responsibility for the re-escalation of tensions in the Asia-Pacific, Wang said he does not agree that the regional situation is increasingly tense. Looking around the world, only Asia maintains overall peace, Wang noted, adding that even recent local conflicts, such as those on the Cambodia-Thailand border, were quickly quelled through the efforts of all parties, with China playing a role. China has become a pillar of peace in Asia and will continue to play a constructive role in regional stability as a significant force for global peace, he said.

However, Wang noted that the Asia-Pacific is not without its challenges, urging vigilance against recent dangerous trends in Japan.

He pointed out that the current Japanese prime minister has publicly claimed that any contingency in the Taiwan Strait would constitute a so-called "survival-threatening situation" for Japan to exercise collective self-defense. This is the first time in the 80 years since the war that a Japanese prime minister has publicly made such an outrageous statement, Wang said. He stressed that such remarks directly challenge China's national sovereignty, the post-war international order in which Taiwan was returned to China, and the political commitments Japan made to China. Wang emphasized that China will certainly not accept this, and neither will the 1.4 billion Chinese people!

Speaking in Germany, Wang compared the post-war treatments of history by Japan and Europe. He noted that Germany has carried out a comprehensive liquidation of fascism and enacted laws banning the promotion of Nazism. In contrast, Japan still enshrines Class-A war criminals in a shrine, where Japanese politicians frequently pay homage and revere them as "heroic souls." Such a phenomenon is unthinkable in Europe, Wang said, calling it the root cause of all problems.

The erroneous remarks by the Japanese leadership on the Taiwan question reveal that Japan's ambition to invade and colonize Taiwan has not died out, and the ghost of militarism is still lingering, Wang emphasized. He recalled that Japan launched its aggression against China and attacked Pearl Harbor in the US under the pretext of a so-called "survival-threatening situation."

The lessons of history are not far away and must be closely examined, Wang said. If Japan refuses to repent, it will inevitably repeat the same mistakes, and kind-hearted people should be vigilant. He reminded the Japanese people not to be blinded and coerced by far-right forces and extreme ideologies again. Wang urged all peace-loving countries to send a warning to Japan: if it tries to go back on its path, it will bring about its own destruction, and if it gambles once more, it will only be defeated faster and suffer a harsher loss!