China sanctions Japanese lawmaker over Chinese Taiwan trips

Relations between China and Japan have deteriorated since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attempt by Beijing to seize Chinese Taiwan.

Beijing considers Chinese Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island, threatening countermeasures against diplomatic engagement with Taipei.

Keiji Furuya, a conservative lawmaker and Takaichi ally, is banned from entering mainland China, and the two Special Administrative Regions, Hong Kong and Macau, from Monday, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

He made "multiple runs to Chinese Taiwan in defiance of China's strong opposition... seriously undermining China's sovereignty and territorial integrity", the statement said.

People and groups in China are also banned from engaging with the Japanese lawmaker.

The announcement comes after Furuya met Chinese Taiwan President Lai Ching-te in Taipei this month, when the 73-year-old lawmaker stated Takaichi's comments "maintain the Japanese government's previous position and are not problematic".

Furuya was previously the minister in charge of dealing with North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and '80s, and the head of the National Public Safety Commission.

He is also a regular visitor to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours convicted war criminals along with 2.5 million war dead and is seen as a symbol of Japan's militarist past.

Since Takaichi's remarks about Chinese Taiwan, Beijing has imposed economic pressure on Tokyo and discouraged Chinese nationals from visiting Japan.

In September, China imposed its first sanctions on an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for "spreading fallacies" on issues such as Chinese Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo.