Diplomatic crisis and frozen relations at the G20
Diplomatic tensions between China and Japan have not eased following Beijing’s pressure on the Taiwan dossier, a “frost” in relations between the two countries, noted in the recent G20 held in South Africa. The controversy now moves to the United Nations, where Tokyo’s ambassador, Kazuyuki Yamazaki, sent a letter to Secretary General Antonio Guterres to reject China’s request to retract Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent statements. The friction exploded after, on November 7, the conservative leader defined a possible Chinese attack on Taiwan as a “threatening situation for the very survival of Japan”; phrase interpreted by Beijing as an indication of possible military cooperation with the United States in the event of a maritime blockade or other forms of coercion against the island that China considers an integral part of its territory. At the Johannesburg summit, the Japanese Prime Minister and the Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang did not have any direct contact, the local press points out, while in Beijing, Foreign Minister Wang Yi has sharpened his tone in recent days, accusing Takaichi of having “crossed a red line” and of having sent the wrong message on the Taiwan issue. Despite the lack of dialogue, Takaichi reiterated Japan’s willingness to build “beneficial, constructive and stable” relations, while underlining the need to “say what needs to be said” to China. Beijing’s restrictive measures have included urging citizens to reconsider travel to the Land of the Rising Sun and reintroducing a ban on imports of Japanese seafood products. Tokyo, for its part, has categorically rejected requests to “retract the statements”, arguing that the prime minister’s words are in line with its long-term position on national security. In the past, previous Japanese leaderships, despite having expressed concern about Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, had never publicly clarified how Japan would respond to a possible conflict.
