Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations. Photo: screenshot from UN website

China once again urges Japan to reflect profoundly on the crimes it committed in the past, to honor its commitments to China and the international community through concrete actions, and to cease all attempts to gloss over its wrongdoing and get away with it, said Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

Sun's remarks were made during an open debate of the UN Security Council on leadership for peace on Monday local time, during which he repeatedly refuted fallacious claims made by the Japanese representative to the UN. 

Before Sun spoke, Yamazaki Kazuyuki, Japan's permanent representative to the United Nations once again resorted to sophistry, claiming that China's remarks were "inappropriate and irrelevant," while portraying Japan as a "peace-loving nation," after China's permanent representative to the United Nations, Fu Cong, urged the Japanese side to retract Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's erroneous remarks on Taiwan during the same occasion.

In his statement, the Japanese representative made repeated unreasonable arguments and prevaricated in an attempt to evade the issue, Sun said. 

"It must be pointed out that it is Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi who made the erroneous remarks first. It is only after that China, as a responsible major country of the international community, made clear its position solemnly to set the record straight in international fora and through bilateral channels. Our actions are fully justified," Sun noted. 

"The four political documents between China and Japan provide clear-cut provisions on the Taiwan question, which constitute solemn commitment by the Japanese Government and carry legal effect under international law. There is no room whatsoever for ambiguity or misinterpretation," Sun said, "Whichever political party or individual is in power in Japan, they must always abide by the commitment of the Japanese Government on the Taiwan question."

Under no circumstances does China's Taiwan have anything to do with Japan's so-called "survival-threatening situation," nor may Japan exercise its right of self-defense on this pretext, Sun said.

"Faced with repeated questioning China and criticism from within Japan and from the international community, the Japanese Government has simply dodged the issue by claiming that its position remains unchanged, yet to this day still fails to fully and accurately reiterate the specific content of its commitments to China and fails to articulate that it recognizes the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of the People's Republic of China… This won't win the trust of China," the Chinese diplomat said. 

"Japan on one hand claims that it is peace-loving, while on the other hand has never conscientiously reflected on its war crimes. On the contrary, it has significantly revised its security policies, increased its defense budget for 13 consecutive years, revised the longstanding three principles on arms export, and is attempting to alter the Three Non-Nuclear Principles. How can this win the trust of the world?" Sun added.  

For a Japan like this, we cannot listen to what it says, but only watch what it does, Sun said. 

Following Kazuyuki's brief attempts to shift blame onto China, Sun pointed out that remarks from the Japanese side "not only refused to acknowledge their wrongdoing, but also attempted to change the subject."

"I would like to stress that Japanese right-wing forces represented by Sanae Takaichi have unleashed a torrent of erroneous statements and actions as we celebrate the 80th anniversary of both the victory of World War II and the founding of the United Nations," said Sun. 

"They gravely violate international law and the basic norms governing international relations, openly challenge the post-war international order, run counter to the four political documents between China and Japan, undermine the historical foundations of China-Japan relations, constitute a severe breach of the obligations of a defeated nation, fabricate pretexts for lifting the constraints on Japan's post-war military machinery, a gross affront to the Chinese people while challenging international justice."

"With all this going on, how can we possibly believe that Japan will honor its professed commitment to a path of peace?" Sun asked.

Following the victory 80 years later, we must not allow militarism to be resurrected or permit the specter of fascism to return, the diplomat said. 

China once again urges Japan to reflect profoundly on the crimes it committed in the past, to honor its commitments to China and the international community through concrete actions, and to cease all attempts to gloss over its wrongdoing and get away with it, Sun stressed. 



Global Times