Tensions between China and Japan continue to escalate, as the Tokyo sticks to its “Global NATO” policy. China’s Foreign Ministry announced on Dec. 15 that “countermeasures"—sanctions—have been imposed against the former Chief of the Joint Staff of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces Shigeru Iwasaki, for his official post as “political consultant” to the Taiwan separatist regime. As his appointment to the post had been announced, and denounced by China, last March, it can be assumed that the decision to impose countermeasures today are meant as another warning to others in Japan, that China will have zero-tolerance for violations of the one-China principle by treating Taiwan as a separate “country.”
The former head of Japan’s military is hardly a “political” advisor. According to Global Times, since he took his post in Taiwan, he had “attended a tabletop war simulation of so-called mainland’s military action against the Taiwan region.”
“We have protested to the Japanese side more than once and took countermeasures against Iwasaki,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Guo Jianko explained at his Dec. 15 briefing. “Rather than reflect on and correct his wrongdoings, Iwasaki went down the wrong path by colluding with `Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and making provocations. This amounts to a severe violation of the one-China principle and the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan, a blatant interference in China’s internal affairs, and a grave infringement on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The countermeasures, taken in accordance with China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions, reportedly include the freezing of all his movable and immovable property and other types of assets within the People’s Republic of China; a prohibition on organizations and individuals within China conducting any transactions, cooperation or other such activities with him; denial of any visas and his entry into the country (including the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions).
