Japan says Taiwan ties under '1 country, 2 systems' policy

TOKYO:

Japan's relations with Taiwan

are non-governmental and practical, based on the “one country, two systems” policy that recognises China as the sole legitimate government, a top Japanese official said Friday, following Beijing's protest over a recent reference to the island as a country.


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Katsunobu Kato

told a regular news conference Friday that “Japan's position is to maintain relations with Taiwan as practical and non-governmental,” in line with the 1972 Japan-China Communique, when Tokyo switched the diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. “That's our basic policy and there is no change to that."

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Yoshihide Suga

's reference to Taiwan as a country during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday.background:white;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal; orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial; word-spacing:0pxSuga, while answering a question about pandemic measures, made a passing reference to Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia as “three countries.” Chinese

Foreign Ministry

spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Thursday the comment violated

Japan

's “solemn promise to not regard Taiwan as a country.”

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AstraZeneca

vaccine to Taiwan as it battles its largest outbreak of infections amid a shortage of jabs. Taiwan has blamed China for interfering in a potential deal for another vaccine.