Beijing’s ambassador in Tokyo warns Japan not to support Taiwan and the USA
The new Chinese ambassador in Tokyo has urged Japan not to compromise its security due to tensions across the Taiwan Strait and said the detention in Beijing of an employee of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma is considered a case of espionage.
During a speech to the Japan National Press Club, Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianghao also singled out the United States as the main obstacle to improving the strained ties between its Asian neighbors, which he said are "at a critical crossroads".
Wu, 59, is a former assistant to the foreign minister. He assumed office in Tokyo last month, at a time when bilateral relations showed signs of further deterioration despite Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi's recent visit to Beijing.
The Taiwan question is a red line that must not be crossed, said Wu, who called Tokyo's claim – promoted by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – "absurd and dangerous" that any contingency in Taiwan would amount to a contingency for Japan.
"It is illogical and harmful to link an issue that exclusively concerns China's internal affairs to Japan's security," he said, according to an official statement posted on the embassy's website. "If Japan is tied to secessionist forces that seek to divide China, the Japanese people will be drawn into the fire." Harsh words for a diplomat.
When asked about China's detention of a Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma last month, which further soured bilateral ties, Wu said it was not a case of an innocent Japanese citizen being taken into custody.
“ This is an espionage case involving Chinese national security and the evidence is becoming more and more evident ,” he said, further igniting the controversy. Japan has filed an official protest demanding the release of the Astellas employee, a 50-year-old man who has not yet been identified. He lived in China for two decades.
Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi, who visited Beijing earlier this month, raised the issue during meetings with Chinese officials, including his counterpart Qin Gang and former ambassador to Japan Wang Yi. referring to Chinese Premier Li Qiang that it is " extremely important for the Chinese government to ensure an environment where Japanese citizens and Japanese companies can conduct business with a sense of security in China ".
Wu denied that in China people could be arrested for taking a photograph or visiting friends and said that anyone engaged in ordinary friendship or business activities would be welcomed with open arms, Bloomberg reported. Seventeen Japanese nationals have been arrested in China since 2015, a Tokyo Foreign Ministry official told Bloomberg earlier this month. Five are still in Chinese custody, two of whom have been sentenced.
Wu has expressed a negative view on the prospects for bilateral ties and was particularly forthright when examining Japan's strategic pivot to the United States versus China. China-Japan relations are now at a critical crossroads, facing the most complex situation since the normalization of diplomatic relations and encountering new problems, risks and challenges never encountered before. "The United States has vilified China and exerted extreme pressure on it, as well as forcing other countries to surround and contain China's development, thus becoming the biggest external challenge to Sino-Japanese relations."
With its ties to the United States ensnared in the worst possible downward spiral, Beijing has increasingly openly criticized Tokyo's close military and political alignment with Washington over Taiwan and the East and South China Seas in recent months.
In line with Beijing's line on relations with US allies, Wu urged Tokyo to maintain "strategic autonomy", distance itself from Washington and establish "a correct perception" of China.
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The article Beijing's ambassador in Tokyo warns Japan not to support Taiwan and the USA comes from Scenari Economics .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/lambasciatore-di-pechino-a-tokio-mette-in-guardia-il-giappone-su-non-appoggiare-taiwan-e-usa/ on Sun, 30 Apr 2023 19:59:28 +0000.