The Japanese government has spelled out its position on Taiwan – although only in part – based on the 1972 document that normalised diplomatic ties to ease tensions, while insisting that the Taiwan issue should be resolved “peacefully through dialogue”.
In a parliamentary session, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi repeated Tokyo’s position on Taiwan stated in the document that established and normalised diplomatic ties with Beijing and severed ties with Taipei – language Beijing has repeatedly urged Japan to restate in recent weeks.
However, he did not read out a portion of the relevant clause reflecting China’s position, even as Beijing has repeatedly urged Tokyo in recent weeks to restate the wording in full.
In the commentary titled “Never Allow the Tragedies of History to Repeat Themselves”, author Xu Yizhen took aim at Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks to Japan’s parliament last month.
In those remarks, Takaichi suggested that a Taiwan contingency could be a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, a statement that the PLA Daily commentary described as a blatant historical inversion that revived the spectre of militarism.
That notion, which asserts that the ultimate sovereignty of Taiwan is legally unresolved, is strongly opposed by Beijing.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US and its treaty ally Japan, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state. But Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-ruled island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
In the commentary, Xu wrote that “any appeasement or tolerance of these provocative moves by Japanese right-wing politicians will only allow the ghost of militarism to rise again and once more place the peoples of Asia in peril”.