China's UN envoy sends letter to UN chief condemning Japanese PM's erroneous remarks

China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Fu Cong sent a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday, elaborating on the position of the Chinese Government regarding the erroneous remarks on China made by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Fu said Takaichi openly issued blatant provocations on Taiwan during a parliamentary session earlier this month. He stressed that this marked the first time since Japan's 1945 defeat that a Japanese leader had, in a formal setting, promoted the notion that "a Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency" and linked it to the exercise of collective self-defense; the first time Japan had openly hinted at armed involvement in the Taiwan question; and the first time it had issued an implied military threat against China – a direct challenge to China's core interests.