Chinese response to Takaichi 'usual tactics': Japanese lawmaker

Taipei, March 16 (CNA) A visiting senior Japanese lawmaker has criticized China for its reaction to Taiwan-related comments made by Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, saying Beijing was engaging in its "usual tactics" by distorting the truth.

In his address on Monday at the annual Yushan Forum, Keiji Furuya, a senior member of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party who has served in the House of Representatives since 1990, said China had no reason to react negatively to Takaichi's remarks made on Nov. 7, 2025.

"Prime Minister Takaichi's remarks maintained the government's previous position and [were] not problematic," Furuya said, while taking aim at recent remarks by a Chinese official.

"Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi misinterpreted her remarks, even going so far as to refer to a threat to national existence, and made criticism that were not based on the facts," he said.

"This is precisely one of China's usual tactics, and Japan has no reason to make any concessions."

Furuya was referring to a statement Takaichi made during a Diet session in November, when she said that a Chinese naval blockade of Taiwan would constitute a situation threatening Japan's survival and could therefore warrant a military response from Tokyo.

The statement was widely seen as a continuation of Japanese policy, but it drew an angry reaction from Beijing.

The Chinese took several steps to put pressure on Japan including issuing travel and study advisories for Japan, suspending imports of Japanese seafood, and holding several rounds of military drills.

To date, however, Takaichi has not walked back her statement.

In the same speech Monday, Furaya proposed establishing exchanges among military bands of Japan, the United States and Taiwan as part of a trilateral cultural exchange program to promote peace.

"Today, I would like to make a suggestion. It is a cultural exchange between military bands from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, the Taiwanese military, and the U.S. military," Furuya said.

Such exchanges would be "purely cultural," he said, adding that he believed China has "no right to say anything about it."

"We will work with the United States and Taiwan to realize such cultural exchanges that are symbols of peace," he said.

At a follow-up press event later Monday, Furuya said Japan and the U.S. regularly conduct military band exchanges, and that it would be beneficial for Taiwan, which shares democratic values with Tokyo and Washington, to join such exchanges.

Furuya said he pitched the idea of military band exchanges to the top U.S. representative to Taiwan, Raymond Greene, on Sunday and to President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on Monday, and that both had responded positively to the proposal.

The Japanese lawmaker heads the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council, which comprises around 300 Diet members and serves as a friendship association between the parliaments of Japan and Taiwan and promotes bilateral ties.