China urges Japan to stop ‘dangerous’ close monitoring of navy drills
- It comes after the Liaoning aircraft carrier strike group was shadowed by Japan’s Izumo warship in the western Pacific
- Defence ministry spokesman also hit out at Japanese and US remarks on Taiwan, saying they had violated Chinese sovereignty
Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian on Thursday also accused Japan of using Chinese military activities as an excuse to expand its own military.
“Such close tracking and interference activities by the Japanese side are very dangerous and could easily lead to misunderstandings and miscalculations and air and sea accidents,” Wu said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.
“Not only are they detrimental to mutual trust between the two sides, they also pose a serious threat to the safety of ships, aircraft and personnel of both sides,” he said. “China demands that the Japanese side stop all meaningless interference activities.”
Chinese ambassador to the US Qin Gang also weighed in on Taiwan on Thursday, saying the one-China principle has been the bedrock of peace across the strait but the US has put it “in peril like never before”.
In Beijing, Wu from the defence ministry took aim at a Japanese defence white paper that expresses concern over the security of the Taiwan Strait, saying Japan had invaded and colonised Taiwan for 50 years and was not trusted by its neighbours. “Taiwan is purely China’s internal affair and we will not allow the Japanese side to intervene.”
“The US side has been hollowing out the one-China principle and trying to use salami-slicing tactics to achieve its plot of ‘controlling China with Taiwan’,” he said. “We are telling some people on the US side – if they keep ‘slicing the salami’ on the Taiwan issue, they will definitely end up cutting their own hands.”
Commenting on a remark by US Senator Lindsey Graham that China would pay a price for bullying Taiwan, Wu said those who make such comments “should first be prepared to pay the price themselves”.
“On the issue of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the PLA has always dared to take action and will win if it dares to fight,” he said.