Paul Heer
The recent escalation of tensions between Japan and China has revived and intensified a perennial debate on the international legal status of Taiwan. Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi drew a vociferous response from Beijing when she said publicly in early November that a Chinese use of force against Taiwan could be deemed “a situation that threatens Japan’s survival,” implying that it might lead to Japanese military intervention.
The Chinese have since demanded that she retract her statements, insisting that the Taiwan issue is an internal Chinese affair in which no foreign country can interfere, and that Takaichi has violated prior Japanese acceptance of the idea that Taiwan is part of China. Chinese president Xi Jinping, in a subsequent conversation with President Donald Trump—no doubt aimed at getting Trump to press Takaichi to retreat—stated that “Taiwan’s return to China [after the defeat of Japan in World War II] is an integral part of the post-war international order.”
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