Chinese Foreign Ministry: Japan's deliberate ambiguity on the Taiwan question misguides public

Judging from a series of statements, Japan remains ambiguous and has deliberately left crucial issues unresolved on the Taiwan question in an attempt to mislead the public and fob off responsibility, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

"China is firmly opposed to such practices," spokesperson Guo Jiakun told media at a daily press briefing.

According to reports, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Monday made a statement regarding the Taiwan question during a session at the House of Councillors that the Government of Japan fully understands and respects this stand of the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and it firmly maintains its stand under Article 8 of the Potsdam Proclamation. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi insisted that the Japanese side's consistent position is the hope that the Taiwan question can be resolved peacefully through dialogue.

Guo said Motegi repeated some clauses on the Taiwan question from the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement. However, the Japanese side did not reiterate the important clause of the document which states "the Government of Japan recognizes the Government of the PRC as the sole legal Government of China" and "Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of the PRC."

When citing the Cairo Declaration, the Japanese side only mentioned "Manchuria, Formosa, and The Pescadores" and deliberately sidestepped the important information that they are "territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese," the spokesperson said, adding that the Japanese side also juxtaposed the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement and the so-called Treaty of San Francisco, violating the commitments it has made and principles in international law, attempting to rehash the fallacy that Taiwan's status is "undetermined" and interfering in China's domestic affairs.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made an authoritative and detailed statement last week, affirming that Taiwan's status as Chinese territory was established by seven historical and legal facts, Guo noted. 

He also pointed out the following facts. In September 1972, during negotiations on the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, the then Treaty Bureau Chief of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Takashima Masuo clearly stated the Japanese government's position, saying that "it is Japan's consistent position that Taiwan should be restored to China." After the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the then Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira at the Diet session openly stated that "disputes between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan are China's internal affairs" and that "opposition between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan is a domestic matter of China." In February 1975, the then Foreign Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said at the Diet that "cross-strait conflict should be regarded as a civil war in legal terms."

In 1998 the Chinese and Japanese governments issued the China-Japan Joint Declaration on Building a Partnership of Friendship and Cooperation for Peace and Development, which included a very important statement. "The Japanese side continues to maintain its stand on the Taiwan question which was set forth in the Joint Communique of the Government of Japan and the Government of the PRC, and reiterates its understanding that there is one China."

Noting that Japan once invaded and exercised colonial rule over Taiwan for 50 years, committed innumerable crimes and bears historical responsibilities on the Taiwan question, Guo stressed that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory and that how to resolve the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese. "Japan is in no position to make any interference," Guo said.

"We once again urge the Japanese side to abide by the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan, earnestly do soul-searching and correct its wrongdoings and retract the erroneous remarks made by Takaichi," he added.