US backs Japan amid escalating tensions with China over Taiwan

Beijing/Tokyo Nov 21 (PTI) The United States on Friday reaffirmed its strong support for Japan, declaring its “unshakable" commitment to the bilateral alliance in response to China’s sharp reaction to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan.

China has stepped up its rhetoric against Japan, vehemently protesting Takaichi’s November 7 remarks, asserting a Chinese military attack on Taiwan could be a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, which could exercise its right to collective self-defence.

Takaichi's comments in parliament suggested a possible response by Japanese defence forces in the event of a Taiwan contingency.

The US Ambassador to Japan, George Glass, who held talks with the Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, denounced China's response to Takaichi's comments, calling it “provocative”.

China's moves are "very unhelpful and undermine regional stability,” Glass said, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported.

"This is a classic case of Chinese economic coercion," he said, referring to China’s move to ban aquatic imports from Japan.   "In our meeting today, I reaffirmed the United States' unshakable support for the US-Japan alliance and our steadfast commitment to the defence of Japan, including the Senkaku Islands," Glass said.

The uninhabited islets in the East China Sea are controlled by Japan but claimed by China, which calls them Diaoyu. China stepped up patrols to assert its control over the islands.

"We strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to alter or affect the status quo," Glass said.

China has been demanding that Takaichi retract her statement to normalise relations.

On Friday, the tough-talking Takaichi, regarded as a China hawk, refused to retract her statement, saying that Japan had been “consistent” over Taiwan but insisted she wanted better relations with Beijing.

Speaking to reporters before she left for the Group of 20 summit in South Africa, she added: “I myself have repeatedly stated this position in my responses. The government’s stance remains consistent”, she said, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

China has announced a series of measures against Japan, including the re-disposition of its recently lifted suspension of seafood imports and a travel alert for Japan.

Besides lodging diplomatic protests, China, which is the largest source of tourists to Japan with about 7.4 million trips this year, has asked its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan, which resulted in spate of cancellations of Chinese tourists.

China considers Taiwan as an inalienable part of its territory and vows to integrate it with the mainland.

China on Friday strongly objected to Japan’s recent export of Patriot air-defence interceptor missiles to the US, the first such export of high-tech weapons since Japan relaxed controls on arms exports.

International treaties after the WWII clearly stated Japan’s obligations as a defeated country, requiring Japan to be “completely disarmed” and not to maintain such industries as “would enable her to re-arm for war,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, replying to a question on Japan’s arms exports to the US.

“However, in recent years, Japan has kept easing the restrictions and seeking a military build-up. It has increased the defence budget for 13 consecutive years, and adopted the new security laws to remove the ban on exercising the right to collective self-defence”, she said.

All these moves show that Japan is breaking free from the exclusively defence-oriented principle and “re-arming” itself at pace, she added.

“If Japan seeks to go back to the path of militarism, violate its commitment to peaceful development and disrupt post-war international order, the Chinese people will not allow it, and the international community will not allow it. Such attempts will only end in failure”, she said. PTI KJV RD RD