TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China’s permanent UN representative, Fu Cong, warned that Beijing would retaliate militarily if Japan took armed action in a Taiwan Strait conflict, according to a letter he sent Friday to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Fu said China would view such a move to “be an act of aggression.” He said, “China will resolutely exercise its right of self-defense under the UN Charter and international law and firmly defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae said Chinese military actions against Taiwan, including a naval blockade, would be seen as a “situation threatening Japan’s survival” and would prompt a response. She added that any decision would be made only after “comprehensively assessing all information in line with the individual and specific circumstances of what has actually occurred.”
Japan’s response would depend on what China may do “to bring Taiwan fully under the control of the government in Beijing,” Takaichi said.
Fu said the prime minister’s remarks were “a grave violation of international law and the basic norms governing international relations.” “Taiwan is China’s sacred territory, and how to resolve the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese people and brooks no foreign interference,” he added.
The Chinese Embassy in Tokyo reiterated a similar warning on X on Friday. It cited the UN Charter, saying that if any “former fascist or militarist states” resumed aggression, founding UN members “would have the right to take direct military action against them without needing authorization from the Security Council.”
Taiwan’s foreign ministry condemned Fu’s letter, calling it “overbearing and unreasonable” and a distortion of historical facts. It said the letter violated Article 2, Paragraph 4 of the UN Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force in international relations.
The ministry noted that after World War II, the San Francisco Peace Treaty superseded the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation and did not transfer Taiwan to China. China has never governed Taiwan, it said.
