Beijing: Name change of Japanese body in Taipei a wrong move

Beijing: China asked Japan not to send a wrong message to Taiwan authorities and the international community by changing the name of its liaison organisation in Taiwan.

“China is strongly dissatisfied with Japan’s negative move on the Taiwan question,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying told a daily news conference in Beijing, urging Japan to adhere to the one-China principle.

The Interchange Association in Taiwan said in a statement on Wednesday that it will change its name to the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association beginning on Jan 1, according to the Kyodo News Agency.

The organisation was established in 1972 when Japan normalised diplomatic relations with the Chinese mainland and cut “diplomatic ties” with Taiwan.

“China urged Japan to abide by principles under the 1972 SinoJapanese Joint Statement and the promises it has made so far,” Hua said.

“We are strongly opposed to any attempt to create ‘ two Chinas’ or ‘one China, one Taiwan’.”

She added that Japan “should not create new disturbances in the China-Japan relationship”.

In the 1972 joint statement, Japan said it fully understood and respected the Chinese government’s position that Taiwan is part of China.

In 2014, the two sides also reached a four-point consensus – which aimed to improve the ties soured by Japan’s illegal purchase of China’s Diaoyu Islands in 2012 – that reaffirmed the 1972 statement.

Lyu Yaodong, an expert on Japanese foreign policy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Tokyo’s “petty move” is a signal that it is trying to further improve its relationship with Taipei at the possible expense of harming ties with Beijing. — China Daily/Asia News Network