BEIJING: China has taken its growing dispute with Japan to the United Nations, accusing Tokyo of threatening “an armed intervention” over Taiwan and vowing to defend itself in its strongest language yet in the two-week-old dispute.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi committed “a grave violation of international law” and diplomatic norms when she said a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo, China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong wrote in a letter on Friday (Nov 21) to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“If Japan dares to attempt an armed intervention in the cross-Strait situation, it would be an act of aggression,” Fu wrote, according to a statement from China’s UN mission. “China will resolutely exercise its right of self-defence under the UN Charter and international law and firmly defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
BIGGEST BILATERAL CRISIS IN YEARS
Beijing views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office could not immediately be reached on Saturday for comment on Fu’s letter, the strongest criticism of Takaichi yet from a senior Chinese official in the biggest bilateral crisis in years.
The ministry emphasised that Japan’s commitment to peace was unchanged and dismissed China’s claims as “entirely unacceptable”.
Takaichi, a conservative nationalist who took office last month, ditched the ambiguity that Japan and the US have long used regarding Taiwan when she told a questioner in parliament on Nov 7 that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan – which lies just over 100km from Japanese territory – could be deemed “a situation threatening Japan’s survival”.
That is a legal designation that allows a Japanese prime minister to deploy the nation’s military.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-japan-taiwan-tensions-united-nations-5484266
