China Hits Back at Japan's Protest Over Wang Yi's Remarks: "Sophistry and Turning Black into White"

China-Japan Tensions Likely to Persist
Over Historical and Security Issues

After Japan took issue with security-related remarks about Japan made by China's top diplomatic official, Beijing hit back sharply, denouncing Tokyo's stance as "sophistry" and "turning black into white."

According to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 17th, the Chinese Embassy in Japan said in a spokesperson's statement released late the previous night that Japan had protested through diplomatic channels against critical remarks about Japan made by Wang Yi, Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China and Foreign Minister. The embassy stated, "What Japan calls diplomatic negotiations is in fact a distortion of facts and a complete reversal of right and wrong, which is utterly unreasonable," adding, "China has already firmly rejected it."

Tiananmen Square, Beijing. Yonhap News Agency

Earlier, on the 14th, at the Munich Security Conference held in Germany, Wang criticized, "The Japanese prime minister said that, in the event of a contingency in the Taiwan Strait, it would constitute a 'survival-threatening situation' in which Japan could exercise its right of collective self-defense," and added, "This is a direct challenge to China's national sovereignty."

In response, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a press conference the following day, "Japan's reinforcement of its defense capabilities is intended to respond to an increasingly severe security environment and is not aimed at any specific third country," and stated that Japan had conveyed its stern position to the Chinese side through diplomatic channels.

In the statement, the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Japan argued, "Foreign Minister Wang's remarks clearly explained China's position and expressed our firm determination to safeguard our core interests," and "They demonstrated a responsible attitude in defending international fairness and justice, as well as peace and stability."

The spokesperson then pressed Japan, asking whether it was not true that "the prime minister described the Taiwan Strait issue as a survival-threatening situation in which Japan can exercise its right of collective self-defense," and whether it was not also true that "politicians have been repeatedly paying visits to Yasukuni Shrine, where Class-A war criminals are enshrined as heroic spirits."

The statement went on to say, "If Japan once again follows the path of launching external aggression on the grounds of a supposed national survival crisis, it will be bringing about its own destruction," and claimed, "All countries and peoples that stand for justice have the right to settle Japan's historical crimes and bear the responsibility to prevent the revival of Japanese militarism."

This latest exchange is being interpreted as an escalation of bilateral tensions that have continued since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks last year hinting at involvement "in the event of a Taiwan contingency," now intertwined with Japan's recent moves to strengthen its defense capabilities.

Japan is planning to include provisions in its three key security documents, including the National Security Strategy, that would allow the Self-Defense Forces to operate in the Pacific, in order to keep China in check as Beijing expands its military activities in the Pacific.

China, for its part, has been expressing alarm, calling these moves a step toward Japan becoming a "military great power." In particular, on the Taiwan issue, China defines the "one-China" principle as a core interest and maintains that it firmly opposes interference by external forces. This underlies Beijing's strong backlash against Japan's public statements linking its own security to a possible contingency in the Taiwan Strait. Diplomatic circles in Beijing expect that, as Japan seeks to strengthen its defense capabilities with the Japan-U.S. alliance at its core and China moves to counterbalance this, conflicts between the two countries over historical and security issues will likely continue for some time.