China has expressed strong displeasure with Japan for what it calls “slanderous attacks” against China at the recent high-level meetings with Australia, India and the United States, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said today, quoted by the Associated Press, BTA reported.
According to a ministry statement, Director-General of the Asian Relations Department Liu Jingsong delivered solemn statements and expressed serious concern at a meeting yesterday with the deputy head of the Japanese diplomatic mission in Beijing.
„Liu pointed out that Japan's slanderous attacks on China contradict the statement to promote strategic and mutual relations between the two countries,”, the statement said. Meeting in Tokyo on Sunday, Japan's foreign and defense ministers agreed to boost military cooperation with the US in talks with their American counterparts.
A joint statement said China's foreign policy “seeks to reshape the world order for its own benefit at the expense of others” and that such conduct constitutes “ the biggest strategic challenge“ in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
The bilateral talks between Japan and the United States were followed by a meeting on Monday of the foreign ministers of the United States, Japan, India and Australia from the so-called Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. The joint statement did not mention China by name, but expressed a position of dissent against the “militarization of contested positions and accompanied by violent and disruptive maneuvers in the South China Sea”. The Chinese government has repeatedly expressed displeasure that, amid China's rise, the US is deepening its ties with other countries, which President Biden has made a top priority during his tenure.
China's Foreign Ministry said China strongly urges Japan to stop making irresponsible comments about China's internal affairs and called on Japan to stop allying with “some countries” with which it is forming small circles leading to confrontation. A Japanese embassy statement said Yokochi expressed Japan's position at the meeting and made statements on various China-related topics. No details of the meeting were mentioned in the message.