BEIJING/TAIPEI, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) — Outrage and rebuke have stemmed from throughout China as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s current provocative remarks on Taiwan continued to boil over.
At a Diet assembly final week, Takaichi stated that the Chinese mainland’s “use of force on Taiwan” may represent a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. She refused to retract her comment that suggests the potential for armed intervention within the Taiwan Strait.
On Saturday, the People’s Liberation Army Daily issued a commentary on its entrance web page, voicing China’s anger and agency opposition to the remarks, and stated they uncovered Takaichi’s ignorance of each historical past and actuality and revealed the Japanese right-wing’s ambition to intervene militarily in Taiwan.
Japan’s alleged “survival-threatening situation” is nothing however an entire pretext, as Japanese militarism has repeatedly used the time period as an excuse to launch international invasions, bringing immense struggling and catastrophe to the folks of Asia, together with China, and to the world, in keeping with the article.
The article fell in keeping with the remarks of protection ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin, who warned that ought to the Japanese aspect fail to attract classes from historical past and dare to take a danger, and even use drive to intervene within the Taiwan query, it’ll solely endure a “crushing defeat against the steel-willed People’s Liberation Army” and pay a heavy value.
The People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, additionally printed a commentary noting that Takaichi’s feedback mark the primary time since Japan’s defeat in 1945 {that a} Japanese chief has advocated Japan’s “commitment” to Taiwan’s safety in an official setting whereas linking it to the train of collective self-defense.
It can be the primary time {that a} Japanese chief has hinted risk of navy intervention within the Taiwan query and issued a menace of drive in opposition to China, it stated.
By linking the Taiwan query with using collective self-defense, what they’re in search of is a pretext for navy enlargement — a harmful signal of a resurgence of militarism, the article learn.
The view was shared by Cai Liang, head of the Center for Northeast Asian Studies of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, who stated that Takaichi’s inflammatory remarks point out a critical regression in Japan’s stance on the Taiwan query.
The remarks not solely critically violated China’s sovereignty, but additionally raised alarm within the worldwide group concerning the harmful scent of Japan repeating the trail of militarism, he stated.
“What happens in the Taiwan Strait is none of your business, Japanese,” wrote Hung Hsiu-chu, former chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang social gathering, on her Facebook web page, including that “we must make it clear: Taiwan is no longer a Japanese colony — hasn’t been for a long time.”
She said that Japan has but to supply a real apology or compensation for its oppression, killings, and the difficulty of compelled “comfort women” in Taiwan throughout its colonial rule over the island. “Now, they still dare to meddle in the Taiwan Strait-related issue? This is not ‘concern’ — it is blatant historical arrogance and political interference!”
Chinese netizens have additionally broadly voiced their refutation in opposition to Takaichi’s remarks.
“Can Sanae Takaichi really bear the consequences of such a ‘case’ that goes against the interests of the entire Chinese people?!” stated a person on news platform thepaper.cn.
“No one can stop our reunification! Anyone who dares to interfere in Taiwan Strait affairs will pay a heavy price,” stated a netizen on one other platform sina.com.
On Friday evening, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on its consular affairs account on WeChat to advise Chinese residents in opposition to touring to Japan within the close to future.
The submit cited the Japanese chief’s provocative feedback, which it stated “severely worsened the atmosphere of people-to-people exchanges between China and Japan, and posed a significant risk to the personal safety and lives of Chinese citizens in Japan.”
The name got here in opposition to the backdrop of a sequence of stern official responses to Takaichi’s faulty remarks.
Earlier this week, international ministry spokesperson Lin Jian urged Japan to right away appropriate its wrongdoing and retract unjustified remarks associated to China’s Taiwan. Otherwise, all the implications arising therefrom should be borne by the Japanese aspect, he stated.
A day later, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong summoned the Japanese ambassador to China Kenji Kanasugi, following directions from superiors, and made critical demarches over Takaichi’s faulty remarks, calling them extraordinarily improper and harmful.
Sun urged Japan to deeply mirror on its historic crimes and obligations, instantly mirror and proper its errors, withdraw its unhealthy remarks, and never go additional down the improper path.
Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for China’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, addressed the difficulty by referring to Japan’s brutal colonial rule on the island for half a century. He stated that Japan had dedicated crimes in opposition to the Chinese folks concerning the Taiwan query, and that Takaichi’s unjustified remarks mirror makes an attempt to intervene in cross-Strait affairs, which the Chinese authorities and Chinese folks won’t ever settle for, tolerate, or condone.