China’s Foreign Minister cautioned Japan against teaming up with the U.S. to counter Beijing, as Japan speaks up more on human rights in the Xinjiang region in China and Hong Kong ahead of a U.S.-Japan summit next week.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, in a phone call on Monday evening that their two countries should ensure that their relations “do not get involved in the so-called confrontation between major countries”, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.
It quoted Mr. Wang as saying that “China hopes that Japan, as an independent country, will look at China’s development in an objective and rational way, instead of being misled by some countries holding biased view against China”.
Japanshares U.S. concerns about China’s military buildup and claims to territory in the South and East China Seas. However, its major trade and investment interests in China have at times reined in its criticism of its larger neighbour.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is to travel to Washington to meet President Joe Biden on April 16 in what will be the U.S. leader’s first in-person summit since taking office in January. Mr. Biden, in contrast to his predecessor Donald Trump, has stressed rebuilding ties with European and Asian allies as the U.S. prepares for competition with a rising China.
Published - April 07, 2021 03:18 am IST
