China strongly warned Japan not to send official to Taiwan in 1994: archive

TOKYO - China strongly warned Japan against visits to Taiwan by key government figures during a meeting between their foreign ministers in 1994, according to diplomatic records declassified Wednesday, underscoring how the Taiwan issue has long been a potential source of friction in Sino-Japanese relations.

Tsutomu Hata, then deputy prime minister and foreign minister, was visiting China when he was told by then Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen on Jan. 8, 1994, that official government trips to Taiwan were "unacceptable," although Beijing would not "take issue with economic ties in the private sectors" between Japan and the self-ruled island, the records showed.