Beijing has summoned the Japanese ambassador and lodged “solemn representations” in its latest show of protest over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent provocative comments on a Taiwan contingency.
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Sun Weidong, China’s vice-foreign minister, on Thursday summoned Kenji Kanasugi, expressing strong dissatisfaction and opposition to Takaichi’s remarks, which Sun called “egregiously wrong and highly dangerous”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
Sun said the Japanese leader’s remarks “constitute a crude interference in China’s internal affairs … severely erode the political foundation of China-Japan relations and deeply hurt the feelings of the Chinese people”.
Earlier the same day, the foreign ministry urged Tokyo to “immediately correct itself”, warning that any Japanese military involvement in the Taiwan Strait would be regarded as “an act of aggression” and vowed to strike back in response.
The move followed several days of an escalating war of words, with Beijing on Monday lodging a protest over Takaichi’s remarks last week that Japan could deploy its military in the event of a cross-strait conflict.
Sun said the Taiwan issue “is an untouchable red line” and “brooks no external interference”.