By Tang Yongliang

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi once again made provocative remarks on the Taiwan question in a recent television program, claiming that in the event of a Taiwan contingency, Japan and the US would jointly rescue their citizens from the Island. Her remarks attempt to link the Taiwan question with the US-Japan alliance and use "citizen rescue" as a pretext to prompt deeper US military involvement in the Taiwan Strait. This exposes the deliberate effort by Japanese right-wing forces to escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait and their sinister intention to collaborate with the US to interfere in China's internal affairs by force. Such actions violate international law and the basic norms of international relations and will inevitably be condemned by the international community and firmly countered by the Chinese people.

From the perspective of the Japan-US Security Treaty, China's Taiwan region does not fall under the jurisdiction of the US-Japan alliance. In 1960, Japan and the US signed the new Japan-US Security Treaty. It is clearly stipulated in Article I that the parties undertake, as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, to settle any international disputes in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations. Resolution 2758 of the UN General Assembly affirms the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government representing the whole of China, including the Taiwan region. Taiwan is part of China. Therefore, Japan and the US have no right to interfere in China's internal affairs by force under any pretext. 

China's Taiwan region does not fall under the jurisdiction of Japan's assistance obligations to the US. Under the revised Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) between Japan and the US, Japan may provide logistical support, including ammunition and supplies, to US forces in situations defined as a "survival-threatening situation" or a "situation of important influence," even if Japan itself is not under direct attack. Even so, Japan has no legal basis to invoke this arrangement to assist the US over the Taiwan question. The so-called survival-threatening situation refers to a contingency in which a country with close ties to Japan comes under armed attack, thereby posing a clear danger to Japan's survival and fundamentally overturning the Japanese people's rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

In line with the principles of the four China-Japan political documents, the one-China principle is the political foundation of China-Japan relations. Japan has repeatedly committed itself to fully understanding and respecting the position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, maintaining only non-governmental and regional exchanges with Taiwan, and refraining from supporting "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan." Taiwan is not a sovereign state and therefore does not fall under the jurisdiction of the so-called survival-threatening situation as defined in the Japan-US agreements. Neither historically nor legally does Japan have any standing to comment on the Taiwan question, still less any justification to interfere in it.

Japan is fully aware that it lacks the capability, on its own, to realize any scheme of armed intervention in the Taiwan question. It has therefore sought to deliberately heighten tensions across the Taiwan Strait, using the pretext of conducting joint evacuation operations to draw the US into the situation. Even if Washington refrains from responding, Tokyo may still attempt to exploit the move to sow discord in China-US relations. Such actions lay bare Tokyo's ulterior motives. Sanae Takaichi has repeatedly hyped up the Taiwan-related issues, a move widely seen as an attempt to deflect domestic contradictions and divert public attention, while stoking populist sentiment to serve her own political interests. At present, both international observers and voices within Japan have pointed to what they describe as a growing imbalance of power and the absence of effective institutional "checks and brakes" in Japanese politics. Where Takaichi will steer Japan in the future and whether the country may once again slide down the path of militarism have become a source of deep concern for neighboring countries and for Asian peoples who once suffered under Japanese militarism.

(The author is a research fellow at the Institute of Japanese Studies, CASS)

Editor's note: Originally published on people.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.