Takaichi mentions "honorable sanctions" to a close associate who was sanctioned by China

(Tokyo = Yonhap News) Correspondent Cho Sung-mi = It was belatedly reported that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who drew backlash from China last year with remarks suggesting Taiwan's intervention in an emergency, referred to a close associate who had been sanctioned by China earlier this year as "a very honorable sanction."

According to the Asahi Shimbun on the 9th, Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Keiji Furuya introduced in his greeting at the Taiwan National Day ceremony held in Tokyo on the 7th that he received an encouraging email from Prime Minister Takaichi last March when he was sanctioned by China.

Last March, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced measures to freeze Rep. Furuya's movable and real estate assets in China and ban him from entering mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, saying, "Despite China's strong opposition, he visited Taiwan several times and colluded with 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces."

Representative Furuya, known as Prime Minister Takaichi's close associate, has served as the chairman of the Ilhwa Lawmakers' Meeting, a group of pro-Taiwan lawmakers who lead exchanges between Taiwanese and Japanese lawmakers.

Rep. Furuya said he received an email from Prime Minister Takaichi at the time China's sanctions were announced, calling them "very honorable sanctions."

He added, “I don’t have a single yen worth of assets in China and I have no plans to visit China,” adding that there was no impact from Chinese sanctions.

Asahi predicted that while China-Japan relations were frozen after Prime Minister Takaichi made a statement in his response to the National Assembly in November last year suggesting the possibility of intervention in Taiwan in the event of an emergency, his remarks to a lawmaker subject to Chinese sanctions became known, possibly provoking further backlash from China.

After Prime Minister Takaichi's remarks, China cut off official dialogue between governments and is continuing economic retaliation, including restrictions on exports of key minerals such as rare earths.

While high-level official meetings between the two countries have been cut off for about a year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's meeting with former Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, who was leading a delegation from Japan's civilian China-Japan Economic Exchange Organization delegation to Beijing on the 28th of last month, attracted attention as to whether this would be a sign of improved relations between the two countries.

Former Foreign Minister Iwaya said in an interview with Asahi reported on the same day that Foreign Minister Wang requested three things: the Japanese leader's withdrawal of incorrect remarks, rational public perception, and a correct view of history.

Director Wang noted that next year marks the 55th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, and said, “Another normalization is necessary.”

Former Foreign Minister Iwaya reported that Wang said he was granting Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Zhanghao the authority to engage in dialogue to resolve the issue, including inter-governmental dialogue, and that he and Japan would have thorough discussions.

Former Foreign Minister Iwaya said, "It was not a response that there was no room to consider (improving China-Japan relations). I think China also understands that withdrawing the prime minister's remarks would be politically difficult."