China condemns ‘evil designs’ of Taiwan premier’s Japan visit

BEIJING –

China on Monday condemned the “evil designs” of Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai’s rare visit to Japan over the weekend, on a trip he said was to support the island’s baseball team and was private.

Cho flew to Japan on Saturday to watch Taiwan play in the World Baseball Classic, in what Taiwanese media said was the first trip to the country by a premier since Japan and Taiwan broke formal diplomatic ties in 1972.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, routinely lambasts any overseas trips by its leaders, but used especially strong language to target Cho.