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China has accused Taiwan’s premier Cho Jung-tai of “evil motives” after he was spotted over the weekend in the Tokyo Dome supporting his national team in an international baseball tournament in Japan.
Cho’s trip, the first public visit to Japan by a sitting Taiwanese premier in more than 50 years, drew an angry rebuke from Beijing, with a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson describing it on Monday as an act of “provocative gamesmanship”.
The incident has further inflamed a diplomatic row between Tokyo and Beijing over Taiwan that has now stretched into its sixth month.
The spat was triggered when Sanae Takaichi, shortly after taking office as Japan’s prime minister, suggested in parliament that a hypothetical Chinese invasion of Taiwan could represent an “existential threat” to Japan that would justify a military response from Tokyo. Her comments to parliament were the first by a sitting Japanese prime minister that publicly acknowledged such a possibility.
Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has threatened to exert its claim militarily if Taipei resists unification indefinitely.
There have been few signs of de-escalation from either Tokyo or Beijing. Takaichi has repeatedly ignored calls to withdraw her comments, while China has issued a travel advisory against Japan and blocked exports of “dual-use” military items to at least 20 major Japanese companies.
Cho flew to Tokyo on Saturday morning for what he described as a private visit, returning the same evening.
He was pictured sporting a “Team Taiwan” cap in the stands of the Tokyo Dome that day as Taiwan beat the Czech Republic 14-0 at the World Baseball Classic, which is being held in Japan.
Due to China’s insistence that Taiwan is denied any treatment that suggests statehood — a demand to which most democracies acquiesce for the sake of their own relations with Beijing — the island nation is forced to participate in international sports competitions under the moniker “Chinese Taipei”.
At many international sports events, organisers also strictly prevent Taiwanese fans from displaying their national flag or even the word Taiwan on clothing.
But the WBC organisers in Tokyo were less stringent, allowing Taiwanese fans to wear “Team Taiwan” T-shirts and wave national flags. During the match Cho attended, a large Taiwanese flag was visible in the stands.
“We have a friend in Prime Minister Takaichi,” said a politician of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Shortly after pictures of Cho emerged on social media, China’s vice foreign minister lodged a formal protest with Japan’s ambassador to Beijing.
Japan’s top government spokesperson Minoru Kihara told reporters on Monday that Cho did not meet any Japanese government officials during his visit.
Cho himself told reporters in Taipei: “I was just there to cheer the Taiwanese team on, and did not have any other purpose.”
But Cho’s mere presence in Tokyo is an extremely sensitive issue. Since 1972, when Japan officially severed diplomatic ties with Taipei and normalised relations with Beijing, no sitting Taiwanese premier has made a public visit.
In 2004, a violent typhoon forced the then-Taiwanese premier You Si-kun to make an emergency landing in Okinawa, where he stayed for a few hours until the storm blew over.
Over the years, a number of senior Taiwanese officials have reportedly made discreet visits to Japan. Extremely rare public visits have included the attendance by then vice-president Lai Ching-te, who is now Taiwan’s president, at the funeral of Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.
