Former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a speech in Tokyo on November 26, 2025 Photo: Screenshot from Sankei Shimbun

Former Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday stressed in a speech the importance of building stable relations between China and Japan when referring to the bilateral relations that have deteriorated due to current Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's erroneous remarks on the Taiwan Straits in the Diet, the Mainichi Shimbun reported. 

"Can our country exist without relations with China?" Ishiba stated in the speech in Tokyo.

Ishiba explained that, since the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China in 1972, successive administrations have understood and respected the Chinese position that Taiwan is a part of China. Referring also to his own experience, he said, "It is something that must not be changed, and we have proceeded with tremendous caution," Mainichi Shimbun reported.

He also noted the current situation in which a wide range of imports from China—such as food, rare earths, and pharmaceuticals—support the Japanese economy, and once again called for paying attention to the smooth China-Japan diplomacy, said the report.

Global Times