Beijing blasts Japan’s ‘sense of crisis’ over Taiwan Strait tensions
- Tokyo has released a defence white paper escalating its concerns over the stability of Taiwan, angering Beijing
- Report notes the overall military balance between Taipei and Beijing is tilting in the mainland’s favour
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the Japanese defence white paper released on Tuesday was full of “cold war mentality”, and called on Tokyo to respect China’s sovereignty. “China is strongly dissatisfied. Taiwan is purely China’s internal affairs,” he said. “China does not allow any country to intervene in the Taiwan issue in any way”.
Zhao said the defence paper exaggerated China’s threat and was extremely irresponsible.
According to the report, Japan said it was facing heightened security risks because of China’s military advancement and the rivalry between China and the US.
“Stabilising the situation surrounding Taiwan is important for Japan’s security and the stability of the international community. Therefore, it is necessary that we pay close attention to the situation with a sense of crisis more than ever before,” the paper said.
“The overall military balance between China and Taiwan is tilting to China’s favour, and the gap appears to be growing year by year. Attention should be paid to trends such as the strengthening of Chinese and Taiwanese forces, the sale of weapons to Taiwan by the United States, and Taiwan’s own development of its main military equipment.”