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Japan's fallacious arguments related to Taiwan question rebutted by Chinese side

Global Times

FM spokesperson responds to Trump-Takaichi call, stressing Taiwan question is China's internal affair

By Liu Xin and Xu Keyue Published: Nov 26, 2025 12:18 AM

China has repeatedly urged the Japanese side to retract Prime Minister Takaichi's erroneous remarks on Taiwan question over the past two weeks, yet Japan's reluctance to do so and its fallacious argument sparked outrage and rebuttal from the Chinese side.

On Tuesday, according to an NHK report, the Japanese government decided on a written reply at a Cabinet meeting, claiming that there is "no change" to its existing position on what constitutes a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan. The Japanese government claimed that the Takaichi administration "maintains" the government position and "does not believe any review or reconsideration is necessary."

In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Tuesday that Japanese officials have kept mentioning the Japanese government's "consistent position" or repeating that their position is "unchanged." "We have explicitly asked the Japanese side what they mean exactly by this so-called 'consistent position' and whether they can fully articulate this 'consistent position' to the public. Essentially, the Japanese side has been deliberately evading China's call for it to retract the erroneous remarks and hoping that somehow the issue would resolve itself," said Mao.

By insisting that its "position has not changed," Japan is merely glossing over the issue. Without retracting the erroneous remarks, Tokyo cannot stop China-Japan relations from further deteriorating or demonstrate genuine sincerity in correcting its mistake, Lü Chao, a Korean Peninsula affairs expert at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

On November 21, Ambassador Fu Cong, Permanent Representative of China to the UN, sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, noting that Takaichi's provocative remarks on Taiwan marked the first time since Japan's defeat in 1945 that a Japanese leader has advocated in an official setting the notion that "a contingency for Taiwan is a contingency for Japan" and linked it to the exercise of the right of collective self-defense.

Japan also submitted a letter to the UN on Monday local time, claiming that China's statements are "inconsistent with the facts," according to a release from the website of Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN.

In his letter, Japan's Permanent Representative to the UN Kazuyuki Yamazaki claimed that "Japan's fundamental defense policy is a posture of passive defense, which is exclusively defense-oriented, contrary to the Chinese side's claims." He also claimed that the remarks by Takaichi are grounded in this position and argued China's assertion that Japan would exercise the right of self-defense even in the absence of an armed attack is "erroneous."

Yamazaki's remarks appear designed to mislead the international community, shift focus away from the core issue, and attempt to ease the pressure at home and from China. This suggests that Japan still lacks introspection and has yet to take meaningful steps to work with China to reduce tensions and address the matter constructively, said Xiang Haoyu, a distinguished research fellow at the Department for Asia-Pacific Studies of the China Institute of International Studies.

Some in Japan even claimed that the People's Republic of China (PRC) is "not in a position" to comment on the Taiwan question because it was "the Republic of China" that accepted Japan's surrender. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning dismissed people who made such claims as either that they do not know the history or that they're deliberately seeking to distort it and disregard international law. The spokesperson stressed that historical facts are ironclad and allow no misrepresentation.

Mao said that in 1945, Japan signed the Instrument of Surrender, explicitly undertook to carry out the provisions of the Potsdam Proclamation in good faith and unconditionally return Taiwan to China. China resumed exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan and recovered Taiwan both in law and in practice. In 1949, the PRC government replaced the ROC government. This is a change of government in which China, as a subject under international law, did not change and China's sovereignty and inherent territorial boundaries stayed unchanged.

Thus, the government of the People's Republic of China naturally and fully enjoys and exercises China's sovereignty, including sovereignty over the Taiwan region. The 1972 Sino-Japanese Joint Statement states that the Government of Japan recognizes the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal Government of China, said Mao.

There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. This is an ironclad fact and shall not be bent or distorted, said the spokesperson.

Silence on purpose

On Tuesday, multiple Japanese media outlets closely followed a telephone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi at Trump's request and highlighted that the call occurred shortly after the conversation between the Chinese and US heads of state, during which the Taiwan question was discussed.

When asked to comment on the phone talk between US and Japanese leaders, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that "the phone call between the leaders of the US and Japan is a matter between the US and Japan. I have no comment on that. The Taiwan question is China's internal affair which brooks no interference by any external forces."

Japanese media outlets have focused on whether the Taiwan question was discussed during the Trump-Takaichi call, especially amid the China-Japan tensions. However, when facing reporters after her phone call with Trump, Takaichi evaded addressing whether they discussed the Taiwan question, saying that "the details of the discussions are diplomatic exchanges and will be withheld."

According to a release from Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trump and Takaichi's telephone talk lasted for "approximately 25 minutes" and President Trump made an explanation on the latest situation of US-China relations including the recent US-China summit meeting.

The release issued by the Japanese side did not mention the Taiwan question. Global Times reporters noticed that as of press time on Tuesday evening Beijing time, the White House had not released any information on Trump's conversation with Takaichi. Trump also had not posted anything about their phone talk on Truth Social as of press time.

After the call, multiple Japanese media outlets, including Mainichi Shimbun and Nikkei Shimbun, highlighted that Takaichi avoided confirming any discussion of her remarks related to Taiwan question during her post-call press conference.

Sankei Shimbun claimed that amid China's countermeasures toward Japan in response to Takaichi's remarks concerning the so-called "Taiwan contingency," the US president is "refraining from public statements and keeping his distance from the Japan-China tensions."

Several Western and US media outlets have also reported on the phone call between Trump and Takaichi. CNBC quoted Dennis Wilder, a senior fellow at Georgetown University, as saying that "Trump's silence on the Sino-Japanese spat must be unnerving" to Japan and the Taiwan region.

Reuters noted that Trump has not commented publicly on the dispute between Japan - a key US security ally - and China, "a silence that analysts say will be concerning to some officials in Tokyo."

"After the conversation between the Chinese and US leaders, Trump promptly engaged in a call with the Japanese side. Judging from Takaichi's ambiguous rhetoric on whether she and Trump talked about the Taiwan question, the conversation with the US president may have left her with mixed feelings," Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

On one hand, Takaichi might perceive the call as continued American recognition of the US-Japan alliance; on the other hand, she likely harbors concerns that going too far on the Taiwan question might not receive endorsement from the US, which remains committed to engagement with China, Da said. Such outcomes would consequently constrain her future political maneuvering room both domestically and within US-Japan relations, Da added.

Lü noted that from the perspective of US' strategy, being abducted by ultra-conservatist such as Takaichi does not serve Washington's best interests.