Japan seeks to calm escalating spat with China over Taiwan
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Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had told lawmakers that a Chinese attack on Taiwan threatening Japan’s survival could trigger a military response.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Japan seeks to de-escalate tensions with China after Minister Takaichi’s Taiwan comments raised concerns in Beijing, with official meetings planned.
- China warned Japan against military intervention in Taiwan, advising citizens not to visit, potentially harming Japan’s tourism sector, with a 25 per cent fall possibly impacting Japan’s growth.
- Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te criticises China’s “multifaceted attack” on Japan, calling for restraint and adherence to international rules, after Chinese vessels entered disputed waters.
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TOKYO – Japan moved on Nov 17 to tamp down an escalating diplomatic row with China over Taiwan that has prompted Beijing to urge its citizens to stay away from its East Asian neighbour.
The dispute erupted after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told Japanese lawmakers that a Chinese attack on Taiwan threatening Japan’s survival could trigger a military response, a scenario previous administrations have avoided discussing in public so as not to provoke Beijing, which claims the self-ruled island.
Mr Masaaki Kanai, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asia and Oceania bureau, arrived in the Chinese capital to meet his counterpart Liu Jinsong, a video broadcast by the Kyodo news agency showed on Nov 17.
Mr Kanai is expected to explain that Ms Takaichi’s comment does not signal a shift
Taiwan sits just over 110km from Japan’s westernmost islands and near vital sea lanes that Tokyo relies on for oil and gas shipments. Japan also hosts the largest concentration of US military power outside the United States.
“Various channels of communication are open,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a regular news briefing when asked about Mr Kanai’s reported China visit.
China’s travel warning, he added, “is incompatible with the broad direction of promoting a strategic, mutually beneficial relationship”.
“We have made a firm request for the Chinese side to take appropriate steps,” he said.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang has no plans to meet Ms Takaichi on the sidelines of this week’s Group of 20 summit in South Africa, however, said the Foreign Ministry in Beijing.
Instead, Japan should retract its “wrongful” remarks, ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news briefing.
Speaking to reporters in New Taipei on Nov 17, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said China is carrying out a “multifaceted attack” on Japan, severely impacting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
“I call on the international community to continue paying close attention and I also urge China to exercise restraint and demonstrate the conduct befitting a major power, rather than becoming a troublemaker for regional peace and stability,” he said.
“China should return to a rules-based international order. Only then will it be helpful for the region’s development. We ask China to think twice.”
Tension could persist for months, however, said Mr Kenji Minemura, a senior research fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies.
“China knows that Takaichi can’t retract her comment, so its call for one isn’t to get a resolution, but to ramp up pressure on Japan,” he said.
Escalating row
The row flared with Ms Takaichi’s comment on Nov 7, a week after she met Chinese President Xi Jinping and agreed to pursue stable ties.
The following day, China’s Consul-General in Osaka Xue Jian said “the dirty neck that sticks itself in must be cut off
Japan summoned China’s ambassador to protest about his “extremely inappropriate” statement and several Japanese politicians called for Mr Xue’s expulsion.
The rift widened on Nov 13 when China summoned Japan’s ambassador
Beijing on Nov 14 warned Japan that it would face a “crushing” military defeat
This included ambiguity over its three non-nuclear principles not to develop, possess or host nuclear weapons.
In August, a Reuters investigation had found growing willingness in Japan to ease those pledges, long a taboo in the only nation to suffer atomic bombings.
In another sign of tension, four armed Chinese coast guard vessels sailed through disputed waters controlled by Japan on Nov 16 before leaving the area.
Both countries lay claim to the cluster of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea called the Senkaku by Japan and the Diaoyu by China. The islands are administered by Japan. Chinese vessels are often spotted in or near the disputed waters.
China’s coast guard said in a statement it carried out a “rights enforcement patrol” through the waters, and that it was a lawful operation.
US Ambassador to Japan George Glass has also waded into the row, posting a series of comments on X criticising Mr Xue’s remarks.
In his latest post on Nov 15, he said it was time to move on, adding that “Halloween has been and gone” after the Chinese diplomat had labelled Ms Takaichi “an evil witch”.
Chinese state-linked media continued to target Ms Takaichi on Nov 17.
“Takaichi’s dangerous remarks, which have touched the nerves of all parties, were not only strategic recklessness, but also deliberate provocation,” the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party, said in an editorial.
A downturn in Chinese visitor numbers similar to the 25 per cent fall that Japan experienced during an earlier diplomatic row in 2012 could result in a significant economic loss, according to Nomura Research Institute executive economist Takahide Kiuchi.
“A drop in visitor numbers on this scale would have a dampening effect exceeding half of Japan’s annual growth,” he said.
Worries about such a hit caused a decline in tourism-sensitive shares in Tokyo, with department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi falling 11.3 per cent, while Japan Airlines gave up 3.7 per cent. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
