Tokyo: The Chinese firing of ballistic missiles during military exercises near Taiwan was denounced by Japan’s prime minister on Friday, who called it a “severe matter that undermines our national security and the safety of our population.”
According to Tokyo, five Chinese missiles appear to have landed in the nation’s exclusive economic zone, with four of them perhaps having flown over Taiwan’s main island.
After having breakfast with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned reporters that China’s recent actions “have a major influence on the peace and stability of our area and the world community.”
“I told her that we have demanded that the military drills be immediately cancelled.”
Pelosi is currently in Tokyo for the last leg of a journey of Asia that also took her to Taiwan. This infuriated Beijing, which in reaction has been conducting its biggest-ever military exercises surrounding the autonomous island.
The 82-year-old senator rejected harsh warnings from China to become the most prominent US official to visit Taiwan in years, claiming her presence showed that the US would not desert a democratic ally.
Taiwan is considered to be a part of Chinese territory, and China has pledged to one day recapture the island, if necessary through force.
According to Kishida, he and Pelosi spoke about geopolitical challenges, particularly those involving North Korea, China, and Russia as well as attempts to create a world free of nuclear weapons.
Pelosi arrived on Thursday night after travelling to the North Korean border from South Korea, another important US ally. She hasn’t been to Japan since 2015.
Tokyo has officially protested the military drills, which started on Thursday, to Beijing.
Taiwan is near Taiwan, as are islets at the centre of a protracted dispute between Tokyo and Beijing, as well as portions of Japan’s southernmost territory of Okinawa.
Beyond its territorial seas, Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) stretches up to 200 nautical miles from its coast.
