China sends another letter to UN chief over Japan PM’s Taiwan remarks
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Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested that an attack on Taiwan could warrant a response from its Self-Defense Forces.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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TOKYO - China’s ambassador to the United Nations on Dec 1 sent another letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, criticising 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 Mr Fu Cong refuted Japan’s position, delivered by its UN ambassador Kazuyuki Yamazaki on Nov 24, and accused Tokyo of “making unreasonable arguments”.
China has been taking a hardline stance against Japan since Ms 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.
Mr Fu’s letter, following one he sent to Mr 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”.
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, Mr Yamazaki underscored that Japan’s basic policy is an exclusively defence-oriented strategy. It argued that China’s claim, which suggested Tokyo would exercise its right to self-defence in the absence of an armed attack, is incorrect. KYODO NEWS
