President Lai wades into China-Japan seafood spat with sushi post

Taipei, Nov. 20 (CNA) Taiwan President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) hit back at China's reported suspension of Japanese seafood imports by posing with sushi in a social media post on Thursday.

Lai shared the photos on multiple platforms, writing in the caption that he enjoyed miso soup, and sushi made with seafood from Kagoshima and Hokkaido.

His gesture followed Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung's (林佳龍) call earlier Thursday for Taiwanese to show support for Japan by traveling there and buying more Japanese goods, after Tokyo faced a series of reprisals from Beijing for backing Taiwan.

NHK reported Wednesday that China had informed Tokyo it was halting imports of Japanese marine products to "assess the monitoring of treated and diluted water" from Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, citing Japanese government sources.

The move came after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Nov. 7 that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could qualify as "a situation threatening Japan's survival," potentially triggering a military response.

Lai's post appeared to have raised the ire of Beijing. A Chinese government spokesperson, cited by the state-run Global Times, said "no matter how the Lai authorities put on shows," they can never change the "irrefutable fact" that "Taiwan is China's Taiwan, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory."