Japan sent ‘shocking' wrong signal on Taiwan, says China

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said it was “shocking” for Japan's leader to openly send a wrong signal concerning Taiwan, according to an official statement on Sunday, the latest remarks in a row that has shaken relations for more than two weeks.

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Wang, the most senior Chinese official to have commented publicly on the issue, said Japan was crossing a red line that must not be touched, according to the statement posted on the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website.

He accused Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of attempting to intervene militarily over Taiwan. Wang was referring to comments on November 7 in which she told a questioner in parliament that a hypothetical Chinese attack on democratically governed Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.

The ensuing row, the biggest China-Japan crisis in years, has spread to trade and cultural relations. On Friday China raised the issue with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, vowing to defend itself.

“If Japan dares to attempt an armed intervention in the cross-Strait situation, it would be an act of aggression,” China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong wrote in the letter. “China will resolutely exercise its right of self-defense under the UN Charter and international law and firmly defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”