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Japanese warning to ‘wake up’ to protect Taiwan hits a nerve in Beijing
- Chinese foreign ministry ‘strongly dissatisfied with erroneous remarks’ and says Tokyo broke a promise by calling the island a country
- Japan’s deputy defence minister had questioned the long-standing position of countries following the ‘one China’ policy
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China on Tuesday said it was “strongly dissatisfied” with a senior Japanese official’s remarks that it was necessary to “wake up” to Beijing’s pressure on Taiwan and protect the island “as a democratic country”.
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Japanese deputy defence minister Yasuhide Nakayama had a day earlier warned of the growing threat posed by Chinese and Russian collaboration and questioned the long-standing position of countries like Japan and the US to follow the “one China” policy that recognises Beijing instead of Taipei.
“Was it right?” he asked at an online event hosted by Washington-based think tank the Hudson Institute, referring to how future generations will judge policymakers on the issue. “I don’t know.”
Nakayama also said democratic countries “have to protect Taiwan as a democratic country”.
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The remarks hit a nerve in Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be brought under its control – by force if necessary – and has angrily rejected any international support for the island.
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