Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday, elaborating on the Chinese government's position regarding Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's erroneous remarks on China.

The letter will be circulated to all UN member states as an official document of the General Assembly.

In his letter, Fu noted that recently, when responding at the Diet, Japan's parliament, Takaichi blatantly made provocative remarks on Taiwan. This marks the first time since Japan's defeat in 1945 that a Japanese leader has advocated in an official setting the notion that "a contingency for Taiwan is a contingency for Japan" and linked it to the exercise of the right of collective self-defense; the first time Japan has expressed ambitions to intervene militarily in the Taiwan question; and the first time Japan has issued a threat of force against China, openly challenging China's core interests.

These remarks are gravely erroneous and extremely dangerous, with a profoundly malicious nature and impact, Fu said. Despite China's repeated démarches and protests, the Japanese side refuses to repent or retract its wrongful statements. China expresses strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition, he added.

Fu stressed that Takaichi's remarks constitute a grave violation of international law and the basic norms governing international relations, seriously undermine the post-war international order, and represent an open provocation to the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people and to the peoples of other Asian countries that once suffered from Japanese aggression.

Taiwan is China's sacred territory, and how to resolve the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese people and brooks no foreign interference, the Chinese envoy said.

If Japan dares to attempt an armed intervention in the cross-Strait situation, it would be an act of aggression. China will resolutely exercise its right of self-defense under the UN Charter and international law and firmly defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, Fu said.

As a defeated country in World War II, Japan must deeply reflect upon its historical crimes, strictly honor its political commitment on the Taiwan question, immediately stop making provocations and crossing the line, and retract its erroneous remarks, he noted.