Japan lodges protest with China over envoy’s Taiwan comment

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - Japan said Wednesday it has lodged a “strong protest” with Beijing over the Chinese ambassador’s comment related to Taiwan.

“It is a very inappropriate statement and we lodged a strong protest against that (with Beijing),” the government's top spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference in Tokyo.

He was replying to a statement by Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianghao, who said Monday Japanese people “will be dragged into the flames" if Japan gets involved in any attempt to divide China.

Wu was commenting on the participation of Japanese lawmakers in the Taiwanese presidential inauguration of William Lai Cheng-te.

The Chinese ambassador said the attendance of Japanese lawmakers at the event in Taipei on Monday “sent an extremely wrong political signal.”

However, Hayashi said peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait were “important for Japan as well as international community,” according to a video transcript of his news conference.

Tokyo wants solutions to various issues around Taiwan to be settled in a peaceful manner through dialogue, he added.

Lai was sworn in as the eighth president of Taiwan, which China considers its “breakaway province” while Taipei has maintained its independence since 1949.