Beijing slams Japan for ex-PM’s Taiwan trip

BEIJING—The Chinese mainland slammed Japan on Thursday for allowing former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to visit Taiwan.
“We express strong dissatisfaction and regret over this,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. “Japan should ... not engage in political exchanges in any forms with Taiwan independence forces.” By allowing the trip, Japan has ignored China’s “grave concerns”, Jiang said. Mori, prime minister from 2000 to 2001, left Taiwan on Thursday after a three-day visit at Taiwan’s invitation to meet independence-prone Chen Shui-bian and Lee Teng-hui.
“The former prime minister also met with Chen Shui-bian and even received a medal of honour. It has damaged China’s national interests,” Jiang told a regular news conference. Taiwan has been split from the mainland since the end of the civil war in 1949. China-Japan relations have been strained since Mori’s successor, Junichiro Koizumi, took office, with issues ranging from Tokyo’s World War Two atrocities to present-day rivalry for resources and regional influence. There has been a thaw since new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ice-breaking visit to Beijing last month.

—The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item