* Japanese scholar Yuki Izumikawa criticized Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s latest feedback linking the Taiwan problem to Japan’s safety laws, calling them “extremely harmful” and a risk to Japan-China relations.
* Izumikawa warned that Japan’s potential navy involvement in a Taiwan battle would escalate tensions, notably for areas like Okinawa, which may grow to be a battleground attributable to rising joint navy actions with the United States.
TOKYO, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s latest inaccurate remarks on China’s Taiwan are “extremely harmful,” providing no safety features for Japan or its folks whereas posing important dangers to Japan-China relations, Japanese scholar Yuki Izumikawa warned in a latest interview with Xinhua.
During a parliamentary listening to earlier this month, Takaichi cited the so-called “survival-threatening situation” within the nation’s deeply divisive safety laws and linked it to the Taiwan query, suggesting Tokyo may deal with the Taiwan query as grounds for navy involvement.
Izumikawa, a particular analysis fellow from Okinawa University, referred to as such feedback “extremely serious” when made within the Diet, Japan’s parliament.
“Japan and China are important neighbors with deep economic and cultural ties. If Takaichi’s remarks damage bilateral relations or hinder exchanges, it would be a grave situation,” he stated.
Takaichi later claimed her feedback have been per the federal government’s long-standing place. Izumikawa dismissed this as “absurd,” noting that earlier governments have by no means said that the Taiwan Strait may set off Japan’s proper to collective self-defense.
“Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe once said ‘a Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency,’ but he made that comment in an online speech after leaving office, not in an official Diet session,” he famous.
Izumikawa criticized Takaichi for stoking fears of a “Taiwan contingency,” calling it inappropriate and harmful.
He additionally pressured Taiwan’s painful historical past below Japanese colonial rule after the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki, which makes Japan’s statements on Taiwan notably delicate for the Chinese folks.
He recalled that the 1972 joint assertion between Japan and China states that the Japanese authorities absolutely understands and respects the place of the Chinese authorities that Taiwan is an inalienable a part of China’s territory.
Izumikawa emphasised that the Taiwan problem is China’s inside affair. If Japan makes use of the pretext of a “survival crisis” to intervene with pressure, it will, from China’s perspective, quantity to an act of aggression.
He warned that any navy battle would severely affect Japan domestically, notably islands like Okinawa, the place the Self-Defense Forces and U.S. navy have been rising joint deployments and workout routines.
“If conflict occurs, these areas would become battlefields. It cannot be said that they are dragged into war — it would be Japan itself actively stepping into the war. This is extremely dangerous,” he warned.
(Video reporters: Yang Zhixiang, Chen Zean; Video editors: Liang Wanshan, Hui Peipei)