Why China took Japan criticism to UN twice but did not raise it at G20

Name: Why have Takaichi’s Taiwan comments sent China-Japan ties into a tailspin?
Uploaded: 2025-11-25T12:35:07.000Z
Duration: 4 min 47 s
Description: Why have Takaichi’s Taiwan comments sent China-Japan ties into a tailspin?

Analysts say Beijing views the UN as a platform to ‘anchor’ its position on Taiwan, particularly because it offers a wider reach

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Fu Cong, China’s permanent representative to the UN, has described the comments of the Japanese prime minister as “gravely erroneous” and having a “profoundly malicious nature and impact”. Photo: Reuters

Dewey Simin Beijing

Published: 8:35pm, 25 Nov 2025Updated: 9:29pm, 25 Nov 2025

In a span of just four days last week, Beijing’s envoy to the United Nations criticised Japan – and its leader’s comments related to Taiwan – twice.

Fu Cong first said, during a debate on reforming the UN Security Council last Tuesday, that Tokyo was “totally unqualified” to seek a permanent seat on the group, calling Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s earlier comments on Taiwan “brazen” and “provocative”.

Takaichi on November 7 suggested that Japan could deploy its military forces in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait, the first time a sitting Japanese prime minister had made such remarks.

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Why have Takaichi’s Taiwan comments sent China-Japan ties into a tailspin?

On Friday, Fu sent a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, describing Takaichi’s remarks as “gravely erroneous” and having a “profoundly malicious nature and impact”. It was “the first time Japan has issued a threat of force against China, openly challenging China’s core interests”, he wrote.

However, the issue of Beijing’s position on Taiwan was notably absent from last weekend’s G20 summit in South Africa, an event attended by both Takaichi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

According to diplomatic observers, Beijing has increasingly viewed the UN – as compared to other multilateral forums – as a platform to “anchor” its position on Taiwan, particularly because it offered a wider reach, including to countries across the Global South.

But China is severely constrained in its options to compel Japan to walk back the remarks, according to one analyst.

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