China's Foreign Minister urges Prime Minister Takaichi to correct remarks on Taiwan... Emphasis on the need to normalize China-Japan relations

(Tokyo = Yonhap News) Correspondent Cho Sung-mi = China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi once again urged Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to correct his comments suggesting intervention in Taiwan's emergency, and mentioned the need to normalize the cold China-Japan relationship.

Director Wang made this remark during a meeting with former Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, who visited China on the 28th with a delegation from Japan's civilian China-Japan Economic Exchange Organization, Kyodo News reported on the 29th, citing an announcement from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This is the first time that China has officially announced the meeting between Wang and a Japanese politician since the Sino-Japanese relationship became strained due to Prime Minister Takaichi's remarks.

It is interpreted that the Chinese side made public a meeting with moderate forces within Japan's Liberal Democratic Party to keep the Takaichi administration in check, which is adopting a hard line in China-Japan diplomacy.

In a meeting with former Foreign Minister Iwaya, Foreign Minister Wang emphasized Prime Minister Takaichi's remarks regarding Taiwan, saying, "The (Japanese) leader's incorrect remarks related to the Taiwan issue must be corrected as soon as possible."

He also mentioned that China-Japan relations "need to be normalized."

Former Foreign Minister Iwaya is a moderate member of the Liberal Democratic Party who values ​​China-Japan relations. He took a stand against the conservative stance of the Takaichi administration by abstaining when the "National Flag Destruction" bill, which punishes damage to the Japanese flag, was passed through the House of Representatives.

Former Foreign Minister Iwaya visited China with about 50 people, including executives from Japanese companies, as president of the Japan Association for the Promotion of International Trade, which serves as a channel for trade and economic exchange.

The former chairman of this organization is Yohei Kono, former chairman of the Japanese House of Representatives (House of Representatives), who issued the 'Kono Statement' expressing apology and reflection on the comfort women issue during the Japanese colonial period. Former Foreign Minister Iwaya took over the position after he passed away last June.

In a meeting with Minister Wang, former Foreign Minister Iwaya reportedly expressed his intention to continue the policy, saying that even from his hospital bed, former Chairman Kono said that he should personally visit China in a difficult situation in China-Japan relations.

In response, Kyodo News reported that Director Wang highly praised former Chairman Kono for courageously reflecting on the sins of invasion by Japanese militarism.

Director Wang also mentioned that this year marks the 80th anniversary of the Allied Powers opening the Tokyo Trial (International Military Tribunal for the Far East) to punish Japanese war criminals.

Director Wang pointed out, "Japan is once again facing the question of history. If it tries to overturn its history of invasion, it will not be able to open its future."

Meanwhile, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters that he had a brief conversation with Wang in Manila, the Philippines, where the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in July, but the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially denied this.