Japan’s US envoy warns of a ‘sinister period’ of tension over Taiwan

The US and allies must balance sending a clear message to China over Taiwan with the need to avoid escalation as Asia enters a “sinister period” of tensions, Japan’s top envoy to the US said.

“We need to respond, we need to send a clear message,” Ambassador Koji Tomita said on Tuesday (Aug 24). “We have to act firmly, but wisely, because we have to be careful that we should not go to into an escalatory cycle.”

Tomita said China sought to use US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this month as a “pretext to do something very aggressive” and change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, launching missiles that landed in the waters of Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

Japan’s national security adviser Takeo Akiba raised the issue in a conversation that stretched for about seven hours recently with senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi, Tomita said.

Even as the region is “going into a rather sinister period”, with tensions soaring after Pelosi’s visit, Tomita said, China is entering a “delicate period” before an important Chinese Communist Party meeting in which President Xi Jinping is expected to be given a third term in power.

“In the coming weeks, we need to exercise caution in the hope of managing the situation,” Tomita said. “But at the same time we need to continue our efforts in the context of our alliance cooperation. We need to step up efforts to upgrade our deterrence and capabilities.”

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES