UN envoy calls on Japan to retract Taiwan comments

China's Ambassador to the United Nations Fu Cong urged Japan's prime minister to retract her comments about Taiwan being a potential military contingency for Japan, and "refrain from continuing down the wrong path."

"At a time when the international community is jointly reflecting on history and planning for the future, it is outrageous that Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has gone against the trend by claiming that the so-called survival-threatening situation for Japan is linked to Taiwan of China, and by implying and threatening that Japan would militarily intervene in the Taiwan question," Fu said at the UN Security Council on Monday.

Last month, Takaichi told the Japanese parliament that a "Taiwan contingency" could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, and could prompt military action. She became the first postwar Japanese prime minister to issue a clear threat of force to China.

Her comments received immediate pushback and concern from Beijing and the international community.

"The lessons of World War II are still fresh," Fu said.

"Over the past 80 years, generation after generation has been working tirelessly for peace and speaking out for justice. As we stand at the starting point of the next 80 years, confronted with a world marked by transformation and turbulence, the questions before us are clear: Where is the world headed? Where is peace to be found?" Fu said.

"We must uphold fairness and justice and lay a solid foundation for lasting peace. Militarism and fascism once brought unprecedented catastrophes to humanity. Any erroneous remarks and acts to whitewash or overturn the history of aggression challenge the bottom line of human conscience and undermine the hard-won peace," Fu said.

"We must uphold a correct view of the history of World War II, safeguard the victorious outcomes of World War II, and defend the post-war international order. We must adhere to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, uphold the sovereign equality of all states, large and small, oppose unilateralism, hegemonism and power politics, advance the democratization of international relations, and enhance the representation and voice of developing countries in international affairs," Fu said.

Fu's comments came during an open debate in the Security Council on Leadership for Peace, during which former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon pressed members to confront both the external crises facing the UN and internal constraints that have weakened its ability to act.

"This deeply disappointing situation is characterized by confrontation rather than cooperation among major powers," Ban told the Security Council, citing the war in Ukraine, mass civilian casualties in Gaza and weakening international cooperation — even as the global climate crisis accelerates.

"The Security Council's ongoing failure to properly function constitutes the most egregious cause," he said, highlighting the repeated use of veto by permanent members "to shield themselves, their allies and their proxies from accountability", Ban said.

Also on Monday, China announced countermeasures against a former senior official of Japan's Self-Defense Forces for colluding with "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, and stressed that the Taiwan question is the red line that must not be crossed.

According to the Foreign Ministry, the sanctions, which took effect immediately, include freezing movable and immovable properties and all other types of assets in China belonging to Shigeru Iwasaki, former chief of the Joint Staff of Japan's Self-Defense Forces.

In March, China said it had lodged protests with Japan following news that Iwasaki was taking a post as a "political consultant" for the Taiwan authorities.