TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China’s foreign ministry announced sanctions on Shigeru Iwasaki, the former chief of the Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Staff, on Monday.
In a statement, the foreign ministry accused Iwasaki of cooperating with “Taiwan independence separatist forces,” which it said violated the “one-China” principle and the four political documents between China and Japan.
Iwasaki was appointed as a political adviser to Taiwan’s Cabinet in March and is seen as a driver of closer strategic cooperation between Taiwan and Japan. The unpaid advisory post lasts for one year.
The Chinese foreign ministry said Iwasaki’s appointment interferes with China’s “internal affairs” and undermines its sovereignty and territorial integrity. In response, the ministry has frozen all of his property and assets within China and restricted organizations or individuals in China from “engaging in relevant transactions, cooperation, or other activities” with the former military official.
The ministry also banned him from entering China, including Hong Kong and Macao.
The sanctions come as China and Japan are engaged in a diplomatic row. In November, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could be considered a situation threatening Japan’s survival and could prompt a military response from Tokyo.
In response, Xue Jian, China’s consul general in Osaka, made an apparent threat to behead the Japanese prime minister in a social media post. Japan later sent Masaaki Kanai, director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at Japan’s Foreign Ministry, for talks with Liu Jinsong, director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Asian Affairs Department, but the meeting ended without progress.
Later in November, China’s permanent UN representative, Fu Cong, warned that Beijing would retaliate militarily if Japan took armed action in a Taiwan Strait conflict. “China will resolutely exercise its right of self-defense under the UN Charter and international law and firmly defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Fu said.
