China Protests Official Japanese Visit to Taiwan

BEIJING (Sputnik) - China expressed dissatisfaction on Wednesday with the ongoing visit of Japanese lawmakers to Taiwan, an island it claims as its territory, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

"Driven by their own political ambition, some Japanese politicians have repeatedly made a show of their visits to the Taiwan region of China … China firmly opposes it and has issued a stern warning to Japan," he told a news briefing.

Taiwan’s external affairs office said on Wednesday that a delegation of the Japanese parliament's upper house, headed by ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Seko Hiroshige, met with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen and top diplomat Joseph Wu to discuss Indo-Pacific stability and shared regional challenges.

Tensions between China and Taiwan, which has been governed independently from the mainland for decades, escalated after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in August. Beijing has warned Western powers against departing from the one-China policy to condone Taiwanese separatism.