Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama rekindled a raging debate Aug. 19 by repeating that the geographical scope of planned U.S.-Japan defense cooperation would naturally include emergencies in the Formosa Strait.

Kajiyama told a regular news conference that geographically, the proposed bilateral defense cooperation in areas surrounding Japan would cover the Formosa Strait.

He said it is his understanding that the ongoing review of the 1978 Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines would not change the essence of the bilateral security treaty, which Tokyo says covers areas north of the Philippines. "It is common understanding that areas north of the Philippines include Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula," Kajiyama told reporters.

He was responding to questions about similar comments he made Aug. 17 during a TV program. He repeated his position despite a remark Aug. 18 by a senior lawmaker in the Liberal Democratic Party that the geographical scope of the defense cooperation should be left vague.

On Aug. 18, Taku Yamasaki, policy affairs chief of the LDP, to which Kajiyama belongs, told a lecture audience in Fukuoka that when revising the defense cooperation guidelines, it is important to keep the geographical scope vague for strategic reasons.

Concerning emergencies, Yamasaki said: "If relations between Japan and China and between the U.S. and China develop closely, such emergencies will not happen. Talking under the hypothesis that such emergencies occur runs counter to the wisdom of deliberately leaving a fuzzy factor in the nation's strategic policy."

Initially, Kajiyama said the geographical scope should not be specified. When LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato said during his visit to China in July that the main contingency addressed by the guideline is an emergency on the Korean Peninsula, Kajiyama was critical, saying such remarks could undermine the effectiveness of the Japan-U.S. security arrangement.

The geographical scope of the guidelines, as well as the question of whether to spell it out, have been contentious issues for the ruling alliance, consisting of the LDP, the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake.

The SDP, which has long maintained friendly ties with Beijing, has said the guideline review should not cover emergencies in Taiwan because such a situation should be considered an internal matter for China.

Kajiyama's repeated mention of Taiwan being within the geographical scope of the guidelines may affect Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's planned visit to China nearly next month to commemorate the 25th anniversary of normalized bilateral ties. Hashimoto is scheduled to visit China for four days from Sept. 4 and is to meet with Chinese President Jiang Zemin and other leaders.

On Aug. 18, China's official Xinhua news agency criticized Kajiyama's earlier televised remarks, saying they pose a threat to Chinese sovereignty and national security.