UPDATE - China’s Wang Yi blasts Japan over Taiwan remarks at Munich conference

UPDATES WITH JAPANESE DEFENSE CHIEF REMARKS; CHANGES DECK

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) - China’s foreign minister on Saturday criticized Japan over remarks by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Taiwan, saying the comments undermine China’s territorial sovereignty.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Wang Yi said Takaichi’s statements last year violated Japan’s commitments to China and provoked Beijing, as tensions persist in China-Japan relations.

The dispute follows Takaichi’s comments in November that a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise collective self-defense.

Responding to a question about possible renewed tensions in the Asia-Pacific region and China’s role in preventing escalation, Wang downplayed concerns about rising regional instability.

“I don’t think the situation in Asia-Pacific is becoming increasingly tense. In this world, Asia is probably the only region that maintains overall peace,” he said.

Wang then criticized Takaichi’s remarks and Japan’s position on Taiwan.

“This is the first time in eight years that a Japanese Prime Minister has uttered such words. It directly violates China’s territorial sovereignty, and it directly challenges the fact that Taiwan has been returned to China,” he said.

“It can completely violate Japan’s commitment to China. Could China possibly accept this provocation? No way,” he added.

Wang also compared Japan’s handling of its wartime past with Germany’s response after the Nazi era, saying Berlin “conducted a thorough reckoning with Nazi crimes and passed laws to ban all speech and actions promoting Nazi ideology.” He said Japan, however, still “pays homage to Class-A war criminals, who are enshrined as so-called heroic spirits.”

“This means that Japan has lingering ambitions for invasion and colonialism of Taiwan and the ghost of militarism are still haunting the country,” he said.

Wang urged the Japanese people not to “let the right far right extremists fall and track them along,” and called on countries that care about peace to “shout” to Japan that “if you go back down that old road, it will be a dead end. If you try gambling again, loss will be faster and more devastating.”

A day earlier, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told the Munich Security Conference that Tokyo seeks dialogue with Beijing despite differences.

He said he met his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, in Malaysia last year.

“Even though we have differences and we have disagreements, Japan's stance is very clear. We are always open to the dialogue,” Koizumi said.

“We are not going to shut down any channels. Regardless of differences … I (would) like to send this message to the Chinese side, that we always welcome dialogue,” he added.

Koizumi also said countries around Japan “continue opaque military build-up,” and that the regional military balance has been “greatly and rapidly evolving in the East and the South China Seas.”