Japan denies bowing to China pressure over Taiwan quake condolences message
Government official says removal of Taiwanese president’s name in online version of message was not due to Beijing protests over its inclusion
The Japanese government has denied that a protest from Beijing was behind a decision to drop the Taiwanese president’s name from an online version of a message sent by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week in response to a devastating earthquake.
Abe’s message of condolence and support was addressed to President Tsai Ing-wen when it was released to the press on Thursday, but the version subsequently uploaded to the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s website lacked her name.
“It’s true that there was a protest by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, but … it’s not true that we altered [the message] in response to the Chinese protest,” chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference on Tuesday when asked about the omission.
“We changed it because we judged it would be appropriate to put up a message addressed to everyone in Taiwan,” the top government spokesman said.
