China Protested For Taiwan Being Called As "Taiwan"

China and Japan are once again embroiled in a diplomatic row over Taiwan in the latest example of Beijing’s extreme sensitivity over the status of the self-ruled island and Tokyo’s changing attitude towards Beijing.

Speaking to the US conservative thinktank Hudson Institute on Monday, Japan’s state minister of defence, Yasuhide Nakayama, spoke of a growing threat posed by Chinese and Russian collaboration, and said it was necessary to “wake up” to Beijing’s pressure on Taiwan and protect the island “as a democratic country”.

The comments immediately outraged Beijing, which has lodged a diplomatic protest over Nakayama’s characterisation of Taiwan as a country. On Tuesday, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, called Nakayama’s remarks “a serious violation”.

“We deplore the erroneous remarks by the senior official of the Japanese government, and we have lodged solemn representations,” Wang said. “This is highly sinister, dangerous and irresponsible. This politician also openly called Taiwan a country, in serious violation of the China-Japan joint statement.”

It is the second time in a month that Beijing and Tokyo have clashed verbally over Taiwan. Earlier in June, the Japanese prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, listed Taiwan next to New Zealand and Australia as three “countries” that had taken stricter measures to combat the spread of Covid-19.

Beijing protested, saying Suga “broke Japan’s long-standing promise not to regard Taiwan as a country”. Online, China’s nationalists demanded a firm response.

This week’s row again highlighted Beijing’s extreme sensitivity over Taiwan. China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province – not a country in its own right – which will one day, by force if necessary, be fully reunited with the mainland.

In Beijing, “one China” is deemed as a “principle”, which insists both Taiwan and mainland China belong to a single China – and that is solely represented by the People’s Republic of China.

After the Chinese civil war in 1949, the defeated nationalist government fled to the island as the communists, under their leader Mao Zedong, took power on the mainland.

Japan in 1972 adopted a “one China policy” and recognised Beijing as the sole legal government of China and reduced ties with Taiwan to a non-governmental level.

But on Monday, Nakayama questioned whether his country’s longstanding policy would stand the test of time. “Was it right?” he asked at the Hudson Institute online event, “I don’t know.”