EXCLUSIVE: China Protests Taiwanese Premier’s Visit to Japan

Beijing, March 8 (Jiji Press)–China has protested Taiwanese Premier Cho Jung-tai’s latest visit to Japan, informed sources told Jiji Press Sunday. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong telephoned Japanese Ambassador to China Kenji Kanasugi on Saturday night to lodge the protest. In Tokyo, a senior official of the Chinese Embassy in Japan also protested to Masaaki Kanai, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, the sources said. Cho visited Japan on Saturday and watched the World Baseball Classic game between Taiwan and the Czech Republic at Tokyo Dome the same day. This marked the first visit to Japan by a sitting premier of Taiwan since Japan and the self-ruled island severed diplomatic relations in 1972. In response to the protest, Kanasugi said that the Japanese government is not in a position to comment as the Taiwanese side has explained that it was a private visit, according to the sources. At a press conference held on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress in Beijing on Sunday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi launched criticisms against Japan but made no mention whatsoever of Cho’s visit to Japan or the protest. China considers Taiwan its territory and does not allow high-level visits between Japan and Taiwan. When Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung visited Japan last summer, Liu Jinsong, director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Department of Asian Affairs, lodged a protest over the phone to Akira Yokochi, minister at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]