Japan lodges diplomatic protest over Chinese envoy’s ‘pit of fire’ warning on Taiwan
- Japan’s foreign minister calls ambassador Wu Jianghao’s warnings against interference ‘extremely inappropriate’
- China ‘is not and will not be a threat to Japan’, Wu says
Japan has lodged a diplomatic protest with China over the Chinese ambassador to Japan’s warning about Tokyo’s policy towards Taiwan, Kyodo News reported on Wednesday.
“The remarks of the Chinese ambassador to Tokyo … are extremely inappropriate for an ambassador,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Wednesday during a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee meeting.
Hayashi was referring to a warning from China’s envoy to Japan, Wu Jianghao, on April 28 that Japan should not interfere with Beijing’s dealings with Taiwan.
“If Japan is tied to the chariot of splitting China, the Japanese people will be led into the pit of fire.”
Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be reunited with the mainland. Most countries, including Japan, do not recognise the self-governed island as an independent state. However, Japan, its top ally the United States, and many other countries are opposed to any attempt to take back the island by force.