Japan Expresses Concern of China Military Activity in Talks

Isabel Reynolds
Updated ·2 min read
10

(Bloomberg) -- Japan expressed deep concern about increased Chinese military activity around its shores, including in coordination with Russia, at a bilateral meeting of senior officials from Beijing and Tokyo on oceanic matters.

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The meeting held Monday in the Japanese capital came as China conducted exercises around Taiwan in response to President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

“We strongly protested the fact that the Chinese side continuously makes comments that not are based on scientific proof,” Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that it sought a science-based dialogue.

The Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong was spotted off Miyakojima, a Japanese island close to Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday. Fighter planes and helicopters were seen taking off and landing from the vessel dozens of times, it added.

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Japan’s officials have repeatedly said the stability of Taiwan is key to its own security and the government has set up military bases on some of its southwestern islands close to Taiwan.

Tokyo’s officials also lodged a stern protest with their Chinese counterparts over Beijing’s comments about plans to release treated waste water from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant into the ocean. China last month reiterated its condemnation of the planned discharge, which Japan has said will not cause any safety issues.

China said it has demanded Japan to stop any behavior that violates its sovereignty and maritime interests, and urged Tokyo not to interfere in the Taiwan issue, its embassy in Japan said in a statement on its WeChat account.

Still, the embassy said in its statement that Beijing and Tokyo have agreed to strengthen dialogue and cooperation between two countries’ coast guards on law enforcement as well as on search and rescue operations.

--With assistance from Jing Li.

(Updates with comments from Chinese embassy in Japan in last two paragraphs.)

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