cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43829169

Japan’s likely next Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday criticized China’s “repression” in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region during a rally to discuss Beijing’s human rights issues in the northern part of the country.

“I cannot but help feel angry that the Chinese Communist Party’s repression continues in Southern Mongolia,” Takaichi, newly elected to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party chief to succeed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said in a message read out during the event, according to the organizer.

Takaichi sent the message as the head of a group of LDP members supporting Mongolians in the area. She also called for unity to “defend freedom, rule of law and basic human rights.”

Inner Mongolia, bordering Mongolia and Russia, is home to millions of ethnic Mongolians, but they have allegedly been subjected to oppressive policies such as curbing Mongolian language education, according to human rights groups.

Takaichi, [who] won the LDP’s presidential race on Oct 4 […] likely to become Japan’s first female prime minister after a parliament vote later this month.