China-Japan clash may persist a year, Taiwan minister warns
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Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said worsening the friction or issues related to Taiwan in the China and Japan dispute would offer little benefit to any party.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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TAIPEI – The dispute between China and Japan could drag on for a year, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said, adding Taipei hoped the two sides could find a way to resolve their differences.
In a Bloomberg News interview on Dec 2, Mr Lin said the tensions sparked by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments
He added that worsening the friction or issues related to Taiwan would offer little benefit to any party.
“For Beijing, it’s also not in its interest to escalate the conflict,” Mr Lin added in his first TV interview with the foreign media since taking up the diplomatic post in 2024.
The Foreign Ministry in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Taiwan is at the centre of the dispute between China and Japan, which started after Ms Takaichi commented on the possible involvement of Japanese troops if China were to invade Taiwan.
Beijing saw those remarks as crossing a red line, and responded with economic and diplomatic reprisals – though Ms Takaichi has rebuffed its demand to retract the remarks.
Taiwan’s response to the episode has been fairly muted, with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te urging Beijing to act like a responsible major power, an apparent reference to Beijing’s retaliatory moves.
Mr Lin has also encouraged Taiwanese travellers to visit Japan and buy the nation’s goods – a contrast to the wave of cancellations from China
He reiterated that backing for Japan in the interview on Dec 2, saying that “we show our support through, I think, a soft approach” while also trying “to help cool down the situation”.
He also said that Taiwan “brought together representatives from like-minded countries” to discuss the spat over Ms Takaichi’s remarks.
Though he did not name any countries, Taipei often says it maintains close communication with the US, its main military backer.
Mr Lin added that “we also communicated with various countries through our established channels both before and after the spat broke out, and there is a solid foundation of mutual trust”.
Officials in Taipei “have no doubt on the Trump administration’s commitment to the regional security in the Indo-Pacific”, Mr Lin said in the interview.
There have been some questions about US President Donald Trump’s views on Taiwan, given he said while campaigning for a second term that Taipei should pay for US protection and also accused the self-governing democracy of stealing America’s chip industry.
Some other points Mr Lin mentioned in the interview:
Taipei has proposed holding a meeting in January with South African officials to resolve a dispute over the location of a Taiwanese representative office, Mr Lin said.
He added that Taipei sees “a lot of room to work with Europe,” especially on security, supply chains and defending democracy in the face of authoritarianism. Taiwanese Vice-President Hsiao Bi-khim visited Brussels in November, delivering a speech to an independent alliance of European lawmakers who advocate for a harder line on China.
Mr Lin said: “Taiwan hopes to facilitate future cooperation with the Philippines on developing (artificial intelligence) data centres.” BLOOMBERG
