Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has blasted Beijing over escalating tensions in the East China Sea
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has delivered an unusually harsh rebuke of China, accusing Beijing of violating his country’s sovereignty and of stirring up tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.
“There has been continued, increasing actions by China in the East China Sea that violate Japan’s sovereignty,” Kishida told fellow heads of state on Sunday at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia. “China also continues to take actions that heighten regional tension in the South China Sea.”
Kishida was apparently referring to Chinese incursions in waters around the Senkaku Islands, which are controlled by Tokyo but also claimed by Beijing. Going beyond Japan’s direct territorial concerns, he also suggested that China was jeopardizing regional security in the Taiwan Strait, and he expressed “serious concern” over the human rights of China’s Uighur ethnic minority.
Kishida mentioned in his comments on the same day that he met with US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit. Those talks focused largely on provocations by North Korea, including a spate of missile tests, but the leaders also “reiterated their resolve to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” according to a White House statement.
According to Beijing’s stance, which is known as the “One China” policy, Taiwan is an essential component of China and that China “will inevitably be reunified.”
Beijing will work to achieve this reunion peacefully, but it reserves the right to use force, according to a white paper published in August.
