Japan’s Takaichi rejects China demand to retract Taiwan remarks

[TOKYO] Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi rebuffed demands from China to retract her recent comments about Taiwan, saying there was no change to Tokyo’s stance on how it would respond to a major regional security crisis.

Takaichi recently became the first sitting Japanese leader in decades to publicly link a Taiwan Strait crisis with the possible deployment of Japanese troops, prompting a furious response and economic retaliation from Beijing.

Since then, she has limited herself to the more vague position repeated by recent Japanese prime ministers, and in remarks to reporters on Friday before departing for a G-20 meeting in South Africa she reiterated that stance.

Asked if she planned to retract the comment that infuriated Beijing, she said: “Regarding a situation threatening Japan’s existence, the government will make a comprehensive judgment based on all available information, taking into account the specific circumstances of each actual situation as it arises.”

“I myself have repeatedly stated this position in my responses. The government’s stance remains consistent,” she added.

The dispute with China has become Takaichi’s first major diplomatic challenge since she became national leader last month. While Chinese officials, state media and diplomats have mounted an intense effort to pressure her to retract her comments, Takaichi and her senior officials have sought to dial down tensions and move beyond the issue.

So far that approach has come up short. Japan should “correct the wrongful remarks and wrongdoings at once, and take practical steps to honour its commitments to China,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday (Nov 21).

In her remarks on Friday, Takaichi said she wanted to continue to try and improve relations after she met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Apec summit in South Korea last month.

“President Xi and I confirmed the broad direction of comprehensively advancing our strategic and mutually beneficial relationship and building a constructive and stable relationship. There has been no change whatsoever in this stance,” Takaichi said.

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China is set to be represented at the G-20 by Premier Li Qiang, but there are no current plans for him to meet with Takaichi.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters on Wednesday that if Tokyo refuses to retract Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan that angered Beijing, China will take “serious countermeasures.”

China has already responded with a wave of economic measures and threats of further retaliation. It has told tourists not to visit Japan, suspended moves to resume imports of Japanese seafood and halted approvals for new Japanese films. So far, it hasn’t threatened to disrupt the supply of rare earths to Japan.

The dispute was triggered after Takaichi said that if military force were used in a Taiwan crisis, it could be considered a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. That classification would provide a legal justification for Japan to deploy its military to help defend friendly nations.

A meeting between Japanese and Chinese diplomats earlier this week appeared to have done little to soothe tensions, with the Chinese side expressing dissatisfaction with the outcome of the talks. BLOOMBERG