The future of Asia, and particularly China’s behavior, is in the balance, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said Sunday.
Mori spoke to Fox News after a speech at a conference on Japan and the rest of Asia.
He said a Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency, as is the North Korean nuclear problem.
China would be better served by cultivating good relations with Taiwan rather than antagonizing it, the former prime minister said.
China recently passed a measure preventing its citizens from buying property in the Taiwan Economic Center and North American Trade Center in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory but the democratic island holds and fudges its position on relations with the mainland.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has said that she is willing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two have met before but there have been no international meetings.
Earlier this year, the two sides held bilateral consultations, including signing a customs agreement. They also signed an agreement on tourism.
Taiwan is one of Beijing’s most contentious relationships, with the trade center and trade center a sign of improved ties, even though the agreement was blocked by China’s parliament.
Fox News’ Charles Riley contributed to this report.
Fox News’ Todd Starnes appeared on “Fox & Friends” Monday to discuss the phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Starnes said the world’s most powerful leaders can “work well together,” but that it takes an emergency such as this incident with the U.S. and China to bring them together.
“That makes these discussions and these phone calls – especially Donald Trump and Xi Jinping’s call – something special,” Starnes said.
Watch the clip above.