Beijing sanctions Japanese lawmaker for ‘colluding with Taiwan independence forces’

Beijing has imposed sanctions on Japanese lawmaker Keiji Furuya for allegedly “colluding with the Taiwan independence forces”. “Japanese House of Representatives member Keiji Furuya, despite strong opposition from China, has repeatedly made provocative visits to Taiwan and colluded with ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, seriously violating the one-China principle,” Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Monday. Furuya, 73, is a lawmaker with Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and a close aide to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. He is the chairman of the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council, a cross-party Japan-Taiwan lawmakers’ group, where ROC stands for Taiwan’s official name, the Republic of China. Furuya has visited the self-ruled island many times, including most recently on March 16 when he met Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te. According to Taiwan Today, a government-owned online publication, Furuya called for expanded cooperation in next-generation sectors, such as green energy, energy security and supply chain enhancement. Taiwan’s official Central News Agency said Furuya, who was attending the government-funded Yushan Forum in Taipei, had proposed establishing a “trilateral military band exchange” between Japan, the United States and Taiwan. He was described by Lai as one of most important international friends of Taiwan. Under the Law on Countering Foreign Sanctions, Beijing will freeze all Furuya’s properties and other types of assets within China, according to the foreign ministry statement. Organisations and individuals within China would be prohibited from engaging in any transactions, cooperation or other activities with him, and he would be denied entry to China, including Hong Kong and Macau, the statement added. The sanctions took effect on Monday. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Beijing had lodged a series of protests to Tokyo over Furuya’s visits to Taiwan. Imposing sanctions on Furuya was “a decision of deterrence and warning”, Mao told a daily press briefing on Monday, adding that Beijing would take “other necessary countermeasures in light of the situation”. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US and Japan, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons. In response to Beijing’s move, Furuya told reporters in Tokyo on Monday that visiting Taiwan was a natural function of the parliamentary group he chairs. He added that he had not visited mainland China in decades and held no assets there, according to Kyodo. Furuya is the second Japanese lawmaker and the third high-profile Japanese national to be hit by Chinese sanctions in recent months. In December, Beijing announced sanctions on Shigeru Iwasaki, a former chief of staff of the Joint Staff of the Japan Self-Defence Forces and four-star air force general who serves as a political adviser to Taiwan’s cabinet. Earlier, in September, China said it was sanctioning Japanese lawmaker Hei Seki, a China-born Japanese citizen and outspoken critic of Beijing. He was sanctioned for “long spreading fallacies on issues such as Taiwan, the Diaoyu Islands, history, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong”, Beijing said at the time. The Diaoyu Islands are a series of disputed islets in the East China Sea controlled by Japan, where they are known as the Senkaku. At the time, Tokyo said the sanctions on Seki – who is originally from Sichuan province and known as Shi Ping in China – were “absolutely unacceptable”, and demanded that Beijing retract its punitive measures. Tensions between Beijing and Tokyo have flared over Taiwan in recent months, after Takaichi told Japan’s parliament on November 7 that a naval blockade of Taiwan by Beijing would constitute a “survival-threatening situation”, potentially justifying the mobilisation of the Japanese military. Beijing said the “provocative” remarks infringed on China’s internal affairs and intensified pressure on Tokyo in response. This involved issuing travel and education advisories for Chinese nationals, reinstating a seafood import ban and, in a major escalation, imposing export curbs on all “dual-use” items for 40 Japanese entities. These included Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the National Defence Academy of Japan, a military training university. Takaichi later said that Japan’s policy on Taiwan had not changed and that she had not planned to get into any details of a so-called Taiwan contingency. However, she has resisted Beijing’s demand that she withdraw her remarks. The row has been compounded by a separate security incident involving a member of the Japanese armed forces. Last week, a second lieutenant with the Ground Self‑Defence Force in Miyazaki forcibly entered the Chinese embassy in Tokyo while carrying a knife. The 23‑year‑old later told Japanese police that he had sought to “convey opinions” to the Chinese ambassador and planned to kill himself to “surprise” the Chinese diplomats if rebuffed. Beijing has lodged a protest with Tokyo and cited the case as reflecting the “rampant nature of far-right ideologies and forces in Japan”. “[The intrusion] also exposed erroneous policies on major core issues concerning China-Japan relations, such as history and Taiwan”, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday in an article headlined “Six Questions to Japan”.

Beijing sanctions Japanese lawmaker for ‘colluding with Taiwan independence forces’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Foreign ministry says imposing sanctions on Keiji Furuya, who attended Yushan Forum in Taipei, is ‘a decision of deterrence and warning’

Foreign ministry says imposing sanctions on Keiji Furuya, who attended Yushan Forum in Taipei, is ‘a decision of deterrence and warning’