BEIJING – China lashed out at Shinzo Abe on Wednesday after Japan’s former prime minister warned of serious economic and security consequences of any Chinese military action against self-ruled Taiwan.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that Prime Minister Abe had “said nonsense, pointed fingers at Taiwan affairs and made irresponsible remarks on China’s internal affairs.
He said China is “strongly opposed and disappointed in this” and has protested to Japan through diplomatic channels.
“No one should underestimate the determined will, steadfast will and strong ability of the Chinese people to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Wen told reporters at the meeting. daily briefing. “Whoever dares to repeat militarism and challenge the last line of the Chinese people will surely be shattered in front of them.”
That comes after Abe made remarks against a miscalculation towards Taiwan by China’s ruling Communist Party.
China claims self-governing Taiwan as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary. It has increased its military threat by holding military exercises near the island and regularly bringing fighter jets into its air defense identification zone.
“I think Japan, Taiwan and all democratic countries should continue to urge President Xi Jinping and the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party not to take the wrong path,” Abe said in a statement. virtual speech on Taiwan-Japan relations before Taipei. -set of thought-based foundations.
“Military risk will lead to economic suicide,” Abe said.
A Chinese invasion of Taiwan, he said, would constitute a significant threat to Japan and thus an “emergency situation for the Japan-US alliance”. “People in Beijing, especially President Xi Jinping, should never have a misunderstanding when it comes to this.”
Taiwan was a colony of Japan for 50 years until the end of World War II, and relations between the two countries remain close, bolstered by the US-Japan defense alliance and strong Washington support. for the island, if not officially.
Despite strong economic and cultural links and Beijing’s insistence that Taiwan be eventually reunited with them, only a small percentage of Taiwanese support such an alliance.
Abe also expressed support for Taiwan’s participation in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade group led by Tokyo that emerged from the Trans-Pacific after being ousted by former President Xi Jinping. US Donald Trump gives up.
Taiwan applied for membership in September, a week after China.
“I will support Taiwan’s participation,” Abe said, adding that the organization “is very important for further strengthening the rules-based international order. I think Taiwan has a lot of potential to join.”
Abe was twice prime minister of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party during a particularly tense period in Japan-China relations. He retires in 2020.
.
