Beijing slams Takaichi's Taiwan remarks

China said on Thursday it firmly opposes Japan's attempts to hype and trumpet "the Theory of the Undetermined Status of Taiwan", which "just compounds its wrongdoing".

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said during a parliamentary debate with opposition leaders on Wednesday, "We are not in a position to determine Taiwan's legal status or recognition."

Observers said Takaichi failed to cite the four landmark China-Japan political documents that clearly state Tokyo's commitment to the one-China principle.

Instead, she cited the "Treaty of San Francisco", which was signed in 1951 in the absence of China, and has never been recognized by Beijing. She said "our country has renounced all rights and claims regarding Taiwan" under the treaty.

By doing so, Takaichi "once again shows that she remains unrepentant to this day, and continues to damage the political foundation of China-Japan relations as defined by the spirit of the four political documents", Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters.

In addition, she "disregards the authority of the United Nations and openly challenges the postwar international order and the fundamental principles of international law", Guo said.

Anything set out in the treaty, including on the sovereignty over Taiwan or the handling of the territorial and sovereign rights of China as a non-signatory, is entirely illegal, and null and void, he said.

Lyu Chao, dean of Liaoning University's Institute of America and East Asia Studies, said the Japanese side has been busy looking for excuses in an attempt to cool down the heated situation, which Beijing will never accept.

These excuses are "perpetuating the erroneous view of supporting Japan's military intervention in case of a 'Taiwan contingency'," Lyu said.

Addressing the parliament on Nov 7, Takaichi stated the country's possible military intervention in Taiwan. Tokyo has refused to retract her comments.

After the Wednesday debate with Takaichi, Yoshihiko Noda, head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters that Takaichi has "de facto retracted" her Nov 7 remarks by "no longer mentioning" them.

In a rebuttal, Guo said "no longer mentioning" and "retracting" are two separate kinds of actions that are "totally different in nature".

It is a case of "burying one's head in the sand" for Japan to attempt to downplay and gloss over Takaichi's extremely erroneous remarks by "no longer mentioning" them, Guo said.

When asked about Japan's plan to deploy midrange missiles at an island just 110 kilometers away from Taiwan island, Senior Colonel Jiang Bin, spokesman for China's Ministry of National Defense, said Tokyo "surely will pay a heavy price" if it dares to invite or incite trouble.