Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on the 7th of this month raised the issue of a “Taiwan emergency” in the Diet, triggering a strong protest from Beijing and causing already fragile Sino-Japanese relations to freeze once again.
On the 20th, former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama unusually criticized her publicly by name, describing Takaichi’s remarks as “going in the wrong direction” and saying they had caused the nation to face “immeasurable” losses. He quoted the Analects, advising Takaichi: “If you make a mistake, do not hesitate to correct it” and “to not correct a mistake is truly a mistake,” urging her to correct the error as soon as possible.
Hatoyama pointed out that a single misguided statement by a leader has brought China-Japan relations to the brink of the worst situation. He noted that even hotels received a thousand cancellations within a short time, showing that the social and economic impact is rapidly expanding. He emphasized that Japan has long respected the established stance that “Taiwan is a part of China” regarding the Taiwan issue, should not interfere in China’s internal affairs, and should not use crisis rhetoric to promote arms expansion.
In his post, Hatoyama reiterated his viewpoint from the 11th, quoting diplomat Yukihiko Sunazaki: after the war, Japan was supposed to pay huge reparations to China, but then Premier Zhou Enlai chose to forgo claims on the grounds that the Japanese people were also victims, asking only that Japan acknowledge that Taiwan is part of China. Japan agreed and has respected this ever since, so it should not adopt a provocative stance on the Taiwan issue.
Hatoyama stressed that the current situation has already caused Japan diplomatic and economic damage, urging the government to “stop the bleeding” as soon as possible to prevent relations from deteriorating into an irreversible situation.