Illustration: Liu Rui /GT

After submitting a letter on November 24 to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres aimed at defending Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's erroneous remarks on the Taiwan question, Japan has sent a second letter on Thursday local time in yet another attempt to justify itself while turning the tables and smearing China. Chinese experts said on Friday that Japan is deliberately exploiting the UN platform in attempt to mislead international public opinion and sow confusion. However, in the face of hard facts and Japan's own reckless conduct, its sophistry and evasion appear utterly pale and powerless, the experts said. 

Dubbed "Japan's position on China's statement against Japan", the second letter sent to Guterres by Japan's ambassador to the UN Kazuyuki Yamazaki was accessible on the website of the Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN. In his letter, the envoy claimed that letters from the Chinese side to the UN are "inconsistent with the facts."

Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the UN, sent China's first letter to Guterres on November 21, elaborating on the Chinese government's position regarding Takaichi's erroneous remarks. Fu stressed that Takaichi's remarks constitute a grave violation of international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and seriously undermine the post-war international order, according to Xinhua. 

Refuting the unreasonable arguments made by Yamazaki in his initial letter to the UN, Fu warned in the second letter to Guterres on December 1 that "the international community must remain highly vigilant against Japan's ambitions to expand its military capabilities and revive militarism, and jointly safeguard world peace." Fu slammed Japan for trying to shift the blame and again demanded a retraction of Takaichi's erroneous remarks.

Xiang Haoyu, a research fellow at the Department for Asia-Pacific Studies of the China Institute of International Studies, believed that Japan's latest letter to the UN, like its previous edition, remains rooted in Japan's deeply entrenched erroneous view of history and its fundamentally misguided China policy orientation regarding the Taiwan question.

By making such claims, Tokyo is once again choosing to sacrifice China-Japan relations in order to pander to its far-right support base behind Takaichi, Xiang added. 

When asked for comment on Friday morning regarding China's second letter to the UN demanding the retraction of Takaichi's erroneous remarks on Taiwan, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara claimed that Japan's stance has been consistent, according to Nikkei. 

However, he did not specify what exactly the consistent position is. This has become a cliché tactic of "strategic deception" adopted by Japanese officials to evade responsibility, experts noted. 

Lü Chao, director of the Institute of American and East Asian Studies at Liaoning University, told the Global Times that Japan remains stuck in a posture of passive, evasive sophistry - its arguments are stubborn yet feeble, utterly unconvincing.

"If, as Japan claims, its position has always been 'consistent', then why have three former prime ministers - Noda Yoshihiko, Hatoyama Yukio, and Ishiba Shigeru - all publicly stepped forward to point out the serious problems with the current government's stance?" asked Lü. 

Ironically, the latest Japanese letter also claimed that Japan has "consistently respected and adhered to international law, including the UN Charter," asserting that Japan will continue to "contribute to the international community" as a "peace-loving state." 

Worse still, Japan habitually plays the victim card to mislead the international community and sow confusion, Lü added.

In contrast to such a "peace-loving" claim, according to a Nikkei report on November 29, the Japanese government recently approved a supplementary budget proposal for fiscal year 2025, increasing its total defense expenditure to 11 trillion yen ($70 billion) and achieving the goal of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense ahead of schedule. In addition, the Japanese side is in negotiations with the Philippine side on the export of Japan Self-Defense Force's Type 03 Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile, Kyodo reported.

In response to Japan's recent aggressive moves, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin on Friday urged the Japanese side "to fully meet its obligations as a defeated country in WWII in accordance with international law, stop challenging the post-war international order, refrain from sabotaging peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific, and not to say one thing but do another."

Japan merely pays empty lip service to its so-called "consistent path of peaceful development." In reality, its entire series of domestic and foreign policies - especially the concrete actions in defense and security policy - have long deviated from the path of peace and are deliberately aimed at provoking trouble and stirring up conflict, Xiang said. 

In the face of hard facts, Japan's justifications are feeble, pale, and utterly unconvincing; they cannot possibly win the trust of the international community, Xiang added. 

In mid-November, Kyodo reported that Takaichi was considering reviewing the country's long-standing Three Non-Nuclear Principles, which the media said "is certain to draw domestic and international backlash."

Japan should substantively respond to the demands put forward by China: it must retract Takaichi's erroneous remarks and, more fundamentally, correct its wrong principles, positions, and policy orientation toward China on the Taiwan question, Xiang said. 

If Japan persists in its erroneous attitude and continues its provocative actions, it cannot be ruled out that China will take further countermeasures with its well-stocked tool box, Xiang added. 

Li Weilin contributed to the story