Fallout continues after Japanese prime minister mentioned use of drive in opposition to Taiwan could be ‘survival threatening’ for Japan.
Printed On 5 Dec 2025
Japan and China have escalated their confrontation on the United Nations following unprecedented remarks from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Tokyo’s function in a possible Taiwan battle.
Japan’s ambassador to the UN wrote to Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres on Thursday, disputing allegations from Beijing that Takaichi had violated “the essential norms governing worldwide relations” whereas talking to the Japanese Weight-reduction plan final month.
Really useful Tales
record of 4 gadgetsfinish of record
“The assertions contained therein are inconsistent with the info, unsubstantiated, and are categorically unacceptable,” UN ambassador Kazuyuki Yamazaki wrote.
The letter marks the second time Japan has written to Guterres on the problem in as many months. Each instances had been in response to separate letters from China to the UN about Takaichi.
The dispute started in November when Takaichi informed Japanese legislators that ought to China ever use drive in opposition to Taiwan, the transfer would represent a “survival-threatening state of affairs” for Japan, in line with Japanese media.
Taiwan and Japan don’t have diplomatic relations, however they’re shut neighbours and unofficial allies. Their legislators additionally repeatedly have interaction in party-to-party conferences.
Nonetheless, specialists say that Takaichi’s feedback marked a break in custom for Tokyo, which is usually extra circumspect on Taiwan points.
“This has been the unofficial place of Japan and the unstated place of Japan for a few years, however prime ministers simply don’t say it [out loud],” Jeffrey Corridor, a lecturer in Japanese research at Kanda College of Worldwide Research, informed Al Jazeera.
Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy, is claimed by Beijing, which has pledged to at some point annex it by peace or by drive amid an ongoing army modernisation marketing campaign. Beijing considers points surrounding Taiwan to fall inside its inside affairs.
Along with the UN letters, a Chinese language diplomat in Osaka implied in a now-deleted social media publish that Takaichi ‘s head needs to be minimize off over her remarks on Taiwan, in line with the Reuters information company.
Chinese language state media have additionally began posting articles questioning Japan’s claims to Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands, in what has been described on-line as “geopolitical trolling”.
Takaichi, like her late mentor Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has advocated for a stronger Japanese army – often known as its “self-defence drive” – and revising the nation’s post-war pacifist structure.
Whereas the choice to rearm remains to be controversial inside Japan, the latest dispute with China has helped to boost Takaichi’s recognition, in line with Corridor.
The Japanese public has been displeased that Beijing has tried to equate up to date Japan with its World Conflict II previous, he informed Al Jazeera, when the Empire of Japan brutally colonised massive swaths of East and Southeast Asia.
Fu Cong, China’s everlasting consultant to the United Nations, alluded to Japan’s historic legacy in his second letter to the UN this week about Takaichi.
He referred to as Takaichi’s remarks “misguided”, including they “brazenly problem the victorious outcomes of World Conflict II and the post-war worldwide order and represent a severe violation of the needs and ideas of the Constitution of the United Nations”.