China tells Japan to ‘correct’ leader’s stance on Taiwan

China’s foreign minister has urged Japan to “correct” its leader’s stance on Taiwan as relations between the two Asian economic powers remain strained.

Wang Yi made the remarks while meeting Takeshi Iwaya, head of the Japan Association for the Promotion of International Trade, an organization which primarily focuses on trade and diplomacy with China, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement on Tuesday.

The meeting took place in Beijing on Monday.

“For Japan, the urgent task is to correct as soon as possible the erroneous words and actions of its leaders on the Taiwan question,” Wang said.

Wang said China-Japan relations were again facing a “grave situation” and needed to be “normalized once more.”

He also warned Japan against challenging its postwar “Peace Constitution” or attempting to “rehabilitate war criminals,” noting that this year marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo Trials.

Iwaya, also Japan’s former foreign minister, said the current state of bilateral relations was worrying, according to the statement.

Relations have remained strained since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said last November that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise collective self-defense. Beijing has repeatedly protested the remarks.

Separately, the US Typhon missile system deployed in southwestern Japan will be transferred to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa around mid-October, Kyodo News reported Tuesday, citing Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi. The system, capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles, will not be permanently deployed there.

China has criticized the deployment.

Despite tensions, the two nations mark 55 years of normalization of ties next year.

ANEWS wp:paragraph