Japan spelled out its stance on Taiwan. It’s what Tokyo didn’t say that angers Beijing

China has accused Japan of attempting to “mislead the public and hope that somehow the issue would resolve itself” after its foreign minister selectively quoted its position on Taiwan from a joint communique that was the foundation of establishing their diplomatic ties in 1972.

During a parliamentary session on Monday, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi repeated Tokyo’s position on Taiwan as stated in the document that established and normalised ties with Beijing, although he did not read out parts of that document and others that reflected China’s stance on the Taiwan issue.

On Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Beijing noted Motegi’s reiteration of relevant clauses regarding the issue of Taiwan.

02:49

China reveals radio communications heard before mid-air stand-off with Japanese fighters

“But we also noted that the Japanese side did not reiterate the Japanese government’s recognition that the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government of China, or that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of the People’s Republic of China,” Guo said during a ministry briefing.

Guo said Beijing also noted that when citing the Cairo Declaration, Northeast China, Taiwan and the Penghu Islands were mentioned but “deliberately sidestepped the important information that they are territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese”.

The Cairo Declaration, signed in November 1943, says “it is their [China, Britain and the US’] purpose that Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the first world war in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa and The Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China”.

Taiwan was commonly known as Formosa at the time and the ROC was the name for China before the Communist Party beat the Kuomintang and founded the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The Pescadores are also known as Penghu, a group of islands about 50km (31 miles) west of Taiwan’s main island.

Guo said that this, along with a mention of the San Francisco Peace Treaty – which Beijing does not recognise – attempted to “revive the undetermined status of [the] Taiwan question and interfere in China’s internal affairs”.

South China Morning Post