U.S. Envoy Supports Japan PM Takaichi, Criticizes China

Tokyo, Nov. 20 (Jiji Press)–U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass voiced support Thursday for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, at a time when China is taking a hard-line stance against her and Japan following her recent remarks on a possible Taiwan contingency. “For the prime minister, we have her back,” Glass told reporters at the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Takaichi said in a parliamentary meeting earlier this month that a possible contingency over Taiwan could constitute a so-called survival-threatening situation for Japan. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and aims to unite the self-governing island with its mainland. “China’s provocative statements and coercive economic response…are very unhelpful, and they undermine regional stability,” Glass said. The ambassador also stated that the recent X post by Xue Jian, China’s consul-general in the western Japan city of Osaka, that suggested Takaichi should be beheaded was “outrageous,” adding, “We will continue to push back everywhere we can, and we are here to help in any way we can.” Earlier in the day, Glass met with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and reaffirmed the United States’ “steadfast commitment to the defense of Japan, including the Senkaku Islands” in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa. China claims the Japanese-administrated East China Sea islands, known as Diaoyu in the country. Also on Thursday, Glass said on X, “Coercion is a hard habit to break for Beijing,” commenting on China’s effective suspension of imports of Japanese fishery products, which is apparent retaliation for Takaichi’s remarks. “But just as the United States stood by Japan during China’s last unwarranted ban” on Japanese fishery products, “we will be there for our ally again this time,” he added in the post. The Chinese government earlier this year eased its blanket import ban for Japanese fishery products, which was put in place after the start of the release into the ocean of tritium-containing treated water from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in August 2023. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]