At a meeting held in Osaka on the 5th, Masayoshi Matsumoto, Chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation (and Chairman of Sumitomo Electric Industries), commented on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Diet response regarding a Taiwan emergency, saying, "I shudder to think that those comments would have been made during the (Osaka/Kansai) Expo." Referring to Takaichi's response, he added, "That's unacceptable. It feels like Japan's Expo will be tarnished."
Matsumoto, who has connections with Chinese authorities, is known as a "China expert." Speaking at a New Year's exchange party held by Kansai economic organizations and Osaka Prefecture and City, Matsumoto cited the lack of major natural disasters as a factor in the Expo's success.
He noted, "Prime Minister Takaichi made her emergency comment in November (of last year)." He suggested that Takaichi's response, made after the Expo closed in October, did not affect the Expo, saying, "I'm saying this for the first time today."
After his speech, Matsumoto, speaking to reporters including the Sankei Shimbun, once again criticized Takaichi's remarks, saying, "I'm saying that's completely unacceptable. She needs to be a bit more tactful."
He continued, "If Japan, sandwiched between two major powers (the US and China), continues to act unilaterally, problems are bound to arise." He added, "China hates losing face the most. It may be difficult to recover," suggesting that repairing Japan-China relations will take time.
On the other hand, he added, "The business community has strong connections (with China), so we will continue to maintain and expand those connections," and expressed his intention to visit China as previously planned around October or November of this year through the Kansai Economic Federation and other organizations.
He emphasized that the Kansai business community has built good relations with China through repeated visits to the country, saying, "We need to carefully contact the people we've met there." On November 7th of last year, Prime Minister Takaichi stated in the Diet that a Taiwan emergency involving a military invasion by China could be considered a "situation of existential threat" that would allow for the exercise of the right of collective self-defense. (Inoue Kohei)
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4 Comments
One of irrelevant chinese shill.
Politician says opposing politician is bad, water is wet.
This man is totally getting wrecked in the Yahoo Japan comments 😂
Can we agree that all of Japan’s government officials are fuckin nuts?!