Japan Parties Slam China Consul over X Post on PM’s Taiwan Remark

Tokyo, Nov. 12 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling and opposition parties have criticized Xue Jian, China’s consul-general in Osaka, western Japan, after he slammed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark related to a potential crisis in Taiwan. At a joint meeting of its Research Commission on Foreign Affairs and Foreign Affairs Division on Tuesday, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party adopted a resolution calling for a decisive response, including designating Xue as “persona non grata” for possible expulsion from Japan, if Beijing does not take appropriate measures. Xue’s comment was “an insult to the Japanese people and seriously damaged Japan-China relations,” the resolution said. Former Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone, who heads the LDP research commission, conveyed the party’s call to Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki. Takaichi said at a parliamentary meeting Friday that a potential contingency over Taiwan could constitute a survival-threatening situation for Japan, in which Japan could be allowed to exercise its right to collective self-defense. In response, Xue said on X, formerly Twitter, in Japanese that this is “a path of death that only some stupid politicians in Japan would choose” and that “we just need to chop off their dirty heads without a moment of hesitation.” Jun Azumi, secretary-general of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, criticized Xue’s post at a news conference Tuesday. “It will not benefit Japan-China relations in any way,” he said. Among other opposition forces, Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki described the consul-general’s remark as “going too far” and indicated that he might request Xue’s expulsion. Komeito chief Tetsuo Saito told reporters that he conveyed concerns to the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo, saying, “Comments that can be taken as threats are unbefitting of diplomats.” Japanese Communist Party leader Tomoko Tamura said efforts should be made now not to escalate military tensions between the two countries. Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy posted criticisms of Takaichi’s remark on X the same day, arguing that Japanese militarism had used the pretext of a survival-threatening situation to invade foreign countries many times, and that Tokyo’s interference in China’s efforts to reunite Taiwan with its mainland will only lead to self-inflicted burns and consequences. The embassy also said that Takaichi’s remark was a violent interference in China’s internal affairs and a serious challenge against its core interests, and that Beijing has no choice but to think Japan is on course to repeat the mistake of a 1931 incident, which led to its invasion of Manchuria in northeastern China. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]