Photo/Illutration Taro Aso, vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen at the presidential office in Taipei on Aug. 8 (Haruna Shiromi)

BEIJING—China lodged a complaint with the Japanese government about former Prime Minister Taro Aso’s call for a “resolve to fight” to defend Taiwan, describing his remarks as “presumptuous and absurd.”

“(A) certain Japanese politician … made irresponsible remarks that sought to hype up cross-Strait tensions, stoke antagonism and confrontation, and blatantly interfere in China’s internal affairs,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Aug. 9.

“This seriously violates the one-China principle and the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan and tramples on the basic norms governing international relations.”

In an Aug. 8 speech in Taipei, Aso, vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Japan, the United States and other countries should be “prepared to put a very powerful deterrence into action.”

“It is the resolve to fight,” he said about maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Aso was the first sitting LDP vice president to make an official visit to Taiwan since Tokyo severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1972, according to the LDP.

In a meeting on Aug. 8, Aso and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen agreed that cooperation between Japan and Taiwan is essential for the situation surrounding the Taiwan Strait and other issues.

Aso’s trip to Taiwan on Aug. 7-9 follows visits by Koichi Hagiuda, chairman of the LDP’s Policy Research Council, and Hiroshige Seko, secretary-general of the party’s Upper House caucus, in December.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry statement, attributed to its spokesperson, said, “Japan needs to all the more draw lessons from history and act prudently,” referring to Japan’s half-century colonial rule over Taiwan.

“Today’s China is no longer what it was when the Qing government signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895 (under which Taiwan was ceded to Japan),” the statement said. “What makes this Japanese politician think he is in a position or has the confidence to make such unwarranted remarks on Taiwan?”

The Foreign Ministry statement also included a warning against Taiwan.

“‘Taiwan independence’ has no future, soliciting Japan’s support and selling Taiwan away will only harm the people in Taiwan, and any attempt to collude with external forces in seeking independence and provocations will only fail.”

The Chinese Embassy in Tokyo lodged the protest with the Japanese government.

China made clear its opposition to Aso’s comments after the government and major state-owned media outlets kept silent on the matter until late on Aug. 9.

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