Advertisement
Advertisement
China-Japan relations
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Wednesday that Tokyo is mulling a diplomatic protest against Beijing after the Chinese envoy’s remarks on Taiwan. Photo: AP

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.

“It is absurd and dangerous to clamour for the so-called ‘whatever happens to Taiwan means what happens to Japan’. It is illogical and harmful to conflate matters that are purely China’s internal affairs with Japan’s security concerns,” Wu said.

“If Japan is tied to the chariot of splitting China, the Japanese people will be led into the pit of fire.”

China top concern in Japanese PM’s diplomatic activism, pundits say

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.

On Wednesday, Hayashi said that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait were important “not only to [Japan’s] national security but also to the international community as a whole”.
In response to a question from an opposition lawmaker, Hayashi said Tokyo had repeatedly expressed its position on Taiwan directly to Beijing on various occasions, sometimes at the highest levels, adding that Japan had consistently expressed its stances that it expected that the issue would be resolved peacefully.
The diplomatic skirmish arose as Sino-Japanese relations are “at a critical juncture”, according to Wu, who took his new post in March.

During a speech at a welcome reception on Tuesday, Wu said China and Japan and their bilateral relations were undergoing “profound changes”.

‘Do not help a villain’: China urges Japan not to abet US on tech containment

Wu called on both sides to shoulder their due responsibilities and “contribute more positive energy” to world peace, stability and development.

Wu asked the two countries to build up mutual trust, control risks, deepen collaboration and resume non-official cultural exchanges.

04:17

China’s military simulates precision strikes on Taiwan after island’s leader returns from US visit

China’s military simulates precision strikes on Taiwan after island’s leader returns from US visit

“China was not, is not and will not be a threat to Japan,” Wu said.

“We are willing to maintain dialogue and exchanges with Japan at all levels to eliminate doubts, enhance understanding, and narrow differences.”

56