Extremely unusual! This time, we have completely ignored the statements made by Sanae Takaichi! After her latest appeal, our foreign ministry has still not issued any response to date! Since November last year, when Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated, Ms. Takaichi has publicly addressed us on three occasions. The first was on February 10th, when our foreign ministry responded by mouth calling for dialogue while simultaneously engaging in confrontation—such a dialogue is unacceptable to anyone. We demanded that Japan withdraw its erroneous remarks regarding Taiwan, abide by the four political documents between China and Japan, and demonstrate genuine sincerity, rather than merely verbally seeking dialogue.

Then, on June 18th, Ms. Takaichi once again directed her statements toward us, following the G7 Summit. Our foreign ministry responded at the time by stating that Japan’s actions were contradictory: claiming dialogue while actively confronting, embodying the very “saying one thing and doing another” behavior. We urged Japan to cease attempts to assemble an anti-China mini-circle, and instead take concrete actions to repair bilateral foundations, rather than endlessly talking about communication.

The most recent public statement from Ms. Takaichi came on July 27th. Yet as of now, we have not responded at all—this truly is unusual.

In fact, besides reiterating her desire to establish a strategic reciprocal relationship with us, Ms. Takaichi's latest statement also expressed hope for high-level meetings. Logically, we should have responded. But we didn’t. What does this indicate? Clearly, it shows that we no longer consider such hollow statements from Japan worth replying to, nor do we need to repeat our already clear positions. Deeper down, this might reflect our lack of any expectations toward Ms. Takaichi’s government.

Perhaps Japan is still waiting for our reply. However, this cold handling makes it clear that we will no longer engage in fruitless media tug-of-war with Japan. At the same time, we are sending a clear message to Japan: stop with empty verbal appeals. Japan is certainly eligible to attend the APEC Summit, and Ms. Takaichi may certainly use this opportunity to come to China. But don’t harbor unrealistic hopes for high-level diplomacy. The obstacles in Sino-Japanese relations remain firmly in place. Japan may choose to ignore them, but the problems themselves persist.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1871960868245516/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.