Beijing summons Japanese ambassador in latest protest over PM’s Taiwan comments

SCMP | Nov. 14, 2025, 5 a.m. | Original
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Chinese foreign vice-minister Sun Weidong has described the Japanese leader’s remarks as an “interference in China’s internal affairs”. Photo: Xinhua

Beijing has summoned the ambassador of Japan and lodged “solemn representations” in its latest protest against Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s “provocative” comments on a Taiwan contingency.

Sun Weidong, China’s foreign vice-minister, summoned ambassador Kenji Kanasugi on Thursday. He expressed strong dissatisfaction and opposition to Takaichi’s remarks, describing them as “egregiously wrong and highly dangerous”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

Sun said the Japanese leader’s remarks “constitute a crude interference in China’s internal affairs … severely erode the political foundation of China-Japan relations and deeply hurt the feelings of the Chinese people”.
This came hours after the foreign ministry urged Tokyo to “immediately correct itself”. Any Japanese military involvement in the Taiwan Strait would be regarded as “an act of aggression”, it warned earlier on Thursday and vowed to strike back in response.

The warning came amid an escalating war of words following Takaichi’s remarks last week that Japan could deploy its military in the event of a cross-strait conflict. Beijing on Monday lodged a protest over her remarks, with its foreign ministry describing them as “a blatant interference in China’s internal affairs”.

Kenji Kanasugi, Japan’s ambassador to China. Photo: Japanese Embassy in Beijing
Kenji Kanasugi, Japan’s ambassador to China. Photo: Japanese Embassy in Beijing

Sun told Kanasugi that the Taiwan issue “is an untouchable red line” that “brooks no external interference”.

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