Beijing said on Monday that a
joint statement by the United States and Japan condemning its “provocative
activities” in the contested South China Sea “attacks and smears” China.
China claims almost all of the
South China Sea, despite an international ruling in 2016 concluding this has no
legal basis.
US President Donald Trump and
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Friday they opposed China’s
“unlawful maritime claims, militarisation of reclaimed features, and
threatening and provocative activities in the South China Sea” after they met
in Washington.
Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman Guo Jiakun hit back saying: “The China-related content of the
US-Japan joint statement blatantly interferes in China’s internal affairs,
attacks and smears China and exaggerates regional tensions.”
China had “lodged solemn
representations” with both countries, he added at a regular press briefing.
Friday’s meeting was the first
between Trump and Ishiba, who both heaped praise on the other and doubled down
on decades-old ties in security and trade.
Japan is one of the United
States’ closest allies in Asia, with around 54,000 US military personnel
stationed in the country.
Beijing has in recent months
pressed its territorial claims in the South China Sea — which overlap Malaysia,
Vietnam, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan’s — more stridently.
It has deployed navy and coast
guard vessels in a bid to bar the Philippines from strategically important
reefs and islands in the area.
The Philippines and United States
are bound by a mutual defense pact, and the recent clashes have sparked fears
the US military could be drawn into an escalation.
In January, US Secretary of State
Marco Rubio voiced “serious concern” over what he called Beijing’s “coercive”
moves in the South China Sea and Taiwan, during his first call with Chinese
counterpart Wang Yi.
China claims democratic,
self-ruled Taiwan as its territory and has not renounced the use of force to
claim it.
Trump and Ishiba said in their
joint statement that they support Taiwan’s participation in international
organizations and “opposed any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo
(in the Taiwan Strait) by force or coercion.”
Like most countries, the United
States has no official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but it is the island’s
main supplier of arms for defense.
Guo warned the United States and
Japan on Monday to “clearly oppose Taiwan independence.”
“If the relevant countries really care about peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, they should abide by the one-China principle and clearly oppose Taiwan independence,” he said.
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