China Likely to Stay Tough on Japan This Year

Beijing, Jan. 3 (Jiji Press)--The administration of Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to maintain its hard-line stance toward Japan this year, following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remark over Taiwan last November.

Also concerned over Tokyo's security policy, China will unlikely move to improve relations with Japan for the time being.

"Japan's current leader publicly challenged China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee, said at a symposium held in Beijing on Tuesday, blasting the remark by Takaichi again.

The prime minister said at a meeting of Japanese parliament Nov. 7 that China's possible use of force against Taiwan could constitute a so-called survival-threatening situation for Japan, allowing the country to exercise its right to collective self-defense.

Infuriated by the remark, China has taken measures against Japan, such as urging its citizens not to travel to Japan and reinstating its import ban on Japanese fisheries products. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and aims to integrate the self-governing island with its mainland.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]