Tokyo: Japan has dismissed a Chinese letter to the United Nations accusing Tokyo of threatening armed intervention over Taiwan as “inconsistent with the facts and unsubstantiated”.
Japan’s U.N. ambassador, Kazuyuki Yamazaki, was responding on Monday to a letter China’s U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong wrote on Friday to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
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Fu accused Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of “a grave violation of international law” and diplomatic norms when she said in parliament this month that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.
Yamazaki, in his letter, also addressed to Guterres, said Japan’s fundamental policy was of “passive defense.” “Therefore, China’s assertion that Japan would exercise the right of self-defense even in the absence of an armed attack is erroneous,” he said.
Fu’s letter was the strongest Chinese criticism yet of Takaichi, a conservative nationalist who took office last month, pointing to the worst bilateral tensions between China and Japan in years.
China says Takaichi’s remark had “severely damaged” trade cooperation, while concerts of Japanese musicians in China have been abruptly canceled.
On Tuesday, Takaichi said she had spoken to U.S. President Donald Trump in what was their first phone call since the diplomatic bust-up with China, and that the U.S. leader had told her she could
call him any time.