Japan warned on Taiwan interference

Beijing sent a slew of stern warnings on Thursday and Friday over Tokyo's refusal to retract Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's provocative comments regarding Taiwan, saying that Japan will pay a heavy price if it dares to militarily interfere in Taiwan Strait affairs.

The strong responses from Chinese officials in charge of diplomacy, defense and Taiwan affairs came after Takaichi on Nov 7 hinted the possibility of Japan's military intervention in Taiwan Strait affairs in what she called a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan. She once again used such language on Thursday.

Japan colonized Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, and Tokyo's recent provocations came shortly after China's V-day celebrations earlier this year.

Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao requested a meeting with Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister Takehiro Funakoshi on Friday and made a protest, saying that Japan's refusal to conduct damage control is "a complete misjudgment of the situation and overestimation of its strength".

According to a statement by the Foreign Ministry early on Friday, Vice-Foreign Minister Sun Weidong summoned Japanese Ambassador to China Kenji Kanasugi on Thursday, asking Tokyo to immediately reflect and correct its mistakes and withdraw the wrongful remarks.

Otherwise, "all consequences must be borne by Japan", Sun noted.

He said that 80 years ago, the Chinese people defeated the Japanese invaders after 14 years of battles, and these days "anyone who dares to interfere in China's reunification cause in any form will surely be dealt a heavy blow by China".

"Taiwan affairs are purely China's internal affairs", and "how to resolve the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese people to decide and brooks no interference by any external force", he said.

Senior Colonel Jiang Bin, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, warned at an online news briefing on Friday that Takaichi's remarks "are extremely irresponsible and dangerous" and sent very wrong signals to the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces.

"Should the Japanese side fail to draw lessons from history and dare to take a risk, or even use force to interfere in the Taiwan question, it will only suffer a crushing defeat against the steel-willed Chinese People's Liberation Army and pay a heavy price," Jiang said.

Lyu Yaodong, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Japanese Studies and a professor at the University of CASS, said Takaichi's remarks at Japan's National Diet last week "mark the first time a Japanese prime minister publicly mentioned the relevance of a 'survival-threatening situation' at a specific committee in the parliament."

Behind Tokyo's arbitrary interpretations over the hypothetical "situation" for using its armed force is "its attempt to seek an excuse for its militarily interference in Taiwan Strait affairs and its using the Taiwan question to contain China as led by the United States", Lyu said.

"It will not be a surprise to see the Liberal Democratic Party further use its ruling party status to pursue a conservative, hardline path toward revising Japan's pacifist constitution. This will pose a serious threat to the security situation in East Asia, which deserves great attention from the international community," he added.

Chen Binhua, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, noted that Japan's occupation of Taiwan "constituted the darkest page in Taiwan's history".

He noted that during the dark 50 years of occupation, the Japanese killed hundreds of thousands of Chinese people, took away mineral resources and daily supplies, and committed outrageous war crimes.

Japan "has attempted to interfere in the Taiwan Strait situation, deny the achievements of the victory in the War of Resistance, and challenge the post-war international order" right on the series of 80th anniversaries, Chen said.

"We hope our compatriots in Taiwan will fully recognize the perils and hazards of such actions and work together in safeguarding the common homeland of the Chinese nation," he added.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Friday that at the crux of the whole matter is Tokyo's persistence in refusing to repent and correct, not to mention retracting Takaichi's remarks.

Many prominent figures, including politicians in Japan, also criticized or cautioned against Tokyo's position, he added.

"We will never compromise or back down on issues that bear fundamental importance and matter to China's core interests of national sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said, adding that any force that dares to obstruct China's cause of reunification would be "doomed to fail".