Beijing Warns Tokyo After Former PM Shinzo Abe’s Talks With Taiwanese President

Beijing also warned Taipei against its attempt to gather support from foreign countries to move forward with its agenda.

New Delhi: Beijing has urged Tokyo not to harm the sovereignty of China following a telephonic conversation of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. 

"Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. China firmly opposes official interaction in any form between countries having diplomatic ties with China and Taiwan," said Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry on Friday during the regular press conference, reports news agency ANI. 

 "We solemnly urge certain Japanese politicians not to harm China's sovereignty in any way and not to send wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" forces in any way," Zhao added.

Beijing also warned Taipei against its attempt to gather support from foreign countries to move forward with its agenda. "We also have this solemn warning to Taiwan authorities: all attempts to advance its agenda by soliciting foreign support are doomed to fail," said Zhao.

Warning by Chinese officials came after Taiwan recently confirmed that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a telephonic conversation in January during which Ing-wen thanked Abe and the Japanese Government for their support to Taipei. 

Beijing has long been claiming full sovereignty over Taiwan which is a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. Both sides have been governing separately for more than seven decades but China says that “re-unification” of Taiwan with China will happen even “by force,” if needed.