Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa and South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin underlined the importance of stability in the Taiwan Strait during separate meetings with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅).
Kamikawa and Wang met for about 100 minutes in Busan, South Korea, where they attended a trilateral summit over the weekend, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday.
Wang urged Japan to “keep its commitments” on the Taiwan issue — to “earnestly abide by the ‘one China’ principle” and refrain from interfering in China’s internal affairs, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a news release.
Photo: Kyodo News via AP
Japan’s position on Taiwan remains unchanged, the Chinese news release said, while the Japanese statement said that Kamikawa stated the importance of cross-strait peace and stability.
Kamikawa expressed “serious concerns” about China’s increased military activities around Japan, her ministry said, adding that the two leaders agreed to hold a bilateral security dialogue as soon as possible.
Yesterday morning, Wang told Jin that the Taiwan issue is a “core interest” of China, the Central News Agency reported.
South Korea maintains its position of opposing use of force to change the “status quo” and emphasizing the importance of stability in the Taiwan Strait, it reported.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday “sincerely welcomed and thanked” Kamikawa and Jin for supporting cross-strait peace and stability.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, as well as other senior officials from both sides, have reiterated concerns and support for the cross-strait situation at international events, the ministry said, adding that Taiwan would continue working with them and other like-minded countries to safeguard a peaceful and open Indo-Pacific region.
In other developments, the US Navy asserted its navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea, and challenged restrictions on innocent passage imposed by Taiwan, China and Vietnam.
The recent activities of the US 7th Fleet’s USS Hopper in the South China Sea and near the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) have angered Beijing, which sent naval and air forces to “track, monitor, warn and drive away” the US ship, Tian Junli (田軍里), spokesman for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command, said on Saturday.
Later on the same day, the 7th Fleet issued a statement saying that the destroyer “asserted navigational rights and freedoms” in the area, which is “consistent with international law.”
The operation “upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging restrictions on innocent passage imposed by the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, and Vietnam,” the statement said.
Claiming sovereignty over the Paracel Islands and asking permission to conduct innocent passage through their territorial sea contravenes international law, it said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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