Beijing [China], December 2 (ANI): Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hua Chunying has summoned the Japanese ambassador to Beijing, Hideo Tarumi, to express a protest over statements of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the China-Taiwan issue.

Earlier this week, Abe warned that China's potential military action against Taiwan could result in huge damage for Beijing as neither Japan nor the United States would ignore such a move against the island nation, according to Russian media on Thursday.

"Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed extremely erroneous judgments on the Taiwan issue today, which rudely interfered in China's internal affairs, allowed an open provocation against the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China and boldly supported the forces advocating 'Taiwan independence,' which seriously violated the basic norms of international relations and the principles of the four political documents of China and Japan," Hua was quoted as saying in a statement of the country's foreign ministry, Sputnik reported.

Beijing strongly opposes such statements and calls on Tokyo to recall history of Japan, filled with terrible crimes against the Chinese people, and stop making irresponsible comments on the Taiwan issue which sends false signals to supporters of the island's independence, Sputnik reported.

Taiwan has been ruled independently from China since 1949. China views the island as its province, while the island authorities maintain that it is an autonomous country.

Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades. Taipei has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing. (ANI)