LDP’s Furuya says Takaichi called China’s sanctions against him ‘great honor’

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi described China’s sanctions against veteran Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Keiji Furuya as “a great honor” in a private email earlier this year, Furuya said Wednesday.

Speaking at a reception in Tokyo marking Taiwan’s national day, Furuya, who chairs a cross-party parliamentary group promoting ties with Taipei, said the message arrived when Beijing sanctioned him in March.

Hosted by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan — the self-governing island’s de facto embassy — the event reportedly drew 188 lawmakers from both chambers of parliament. 

Beijing imposed an asset freeze and an entry ban on Furuya earlier this year, accusing him of interfering in its internal affairs through repeated visits to Taiwan and contact with what it called “Taiwan independence” forces.

Furuya said the sanctions had no practical impact because he held no assets in China and had no plans to visit. 

His group, formerly known as the Japan-Republic of China Diet Members’ Consultative Council, also replaced “Republic of China” in the group’s name with “Taiwan” in June. Furuya said at the time that Takaichi’s premiership offered an opportunity to make the change. 

The veteran lawmaker’s account comes amid renewed friction between Tokyo and Beijing ahead of November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China, despite recent efforts to improve ties through parliamentary and business exchanges.

A dispute emerged this week over Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun’s use of Takaichi’s full name without her title during a briefing.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it had raised the matter with Beijing. Spokesperson Toshihiro Kitamura said diplomatic protocol required appropriate respect for another country’s leader, regardless of differences in position.

Even so, Takaichi called China “an important neighbor” when responding to questions in parliament on Thursday and pledged to pursue a constructive, stable relationship while protecting Japan’s national interests.

Asked last week about a possible meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at APEC, she declined to predict whether it would take place, saying Tokyo would continue communicating with Beijing.

Relations between the two East Asian countries deteriorated sharply after Takaichi told parliament last November that a Taiwan conflict involving the use of force could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing it to exercise collective self-defense.

Beijing has since ramped up political and economic pressure on its neighbor, advising its citizens to avoid travel to Japan and tightening export controls on goods with both civilian and military uses.

In a latest effort to find common ground, former Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya visited Beijing late last month as head of the Japan Association for the Promotion of International Trade. He met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sept. 28 and Vice Premier He Lifeng the following day.

Wang urged Japan to promptly correct its leader’s “erroneous words and deeds” on Taiwan and adopt what he described as a “correct attitude” toward historical issues, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s account.

Furuya’s office did not immediately respond to a request from The Japan Times to confirm the email’s wording and the timing of the lawmaker’s disclosure.