China has approved a new Japanese acting consul general in Chongqing, a Japanese government source said Wednesday, a move that came about eight months after the post of consul general was left vacant amid a bilateral row over Taiwan.
Shigehiro Nishiumi, a former deputy Japanese consul general in Hong Kong, assumed the post at the country's diplomatic mission in the southwestern city on Aug. 4, the source said.
There has been no head of the Japanese diplomatic mission in Chongqing since the previous occupant of the post, Mari Takada, became chief of the consulate general in Shenyang, northeastern China, on Dec. 5, according to its website.
Angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's parliamentary remarks last November suggesting Japan would act in the event of an attack on Taiwan, the self-ruled democratic island claimed by China, Beijing has been increasing pressure on Tokyo.
