Japan told to uphold agreements

Bilateral cooperation between Japan and the United States should not undermine China's sovereignty, security and development interests, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.

Wang made the remarks during a virtual meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi. These first talks they had since a telephone conversation in November took place days before Japan is to host a summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad, a group composed of the US, Japan, Australia and India.

The Quad summit is also on the agenda of US President Joe Biden's first Asian visit beginning on Friday. The trip will take him to the Republic of Korea and Japan.

Wang said that while the US leader has not yet embarked on his journey, the belief that Japan and the US will team up against China has already gone rampant. This is concerning and alarming, he said.

Wang said that while Japan and the US are allies, China and Japan have signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Japan-US cooperation should not stir up bloc confrontation, let alone undermine China's sovereignty, security and development interests, he added.

China hopes Japan will draw lessons from history with a view to regional peace and stability and act in a prudent way, Wang said, urging Japan not to take a wrong, beggar-thy-neighbor approach.

As this year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan relations, Wang called on China and Japan to consolidate the political foundation of bilateral ties and maintain the hard-earned friendship created by the two countries' older generations and the two peoples.

One priority is to abide by the principles and spirit of the four China-Japan political documents to keep the bilateral relationship on the right track, Wang said. He also urged the two sides to fully tap the potential for cooperation and strengthen coordination in areas such as the digital economy and climate change governance.

The state councilor said that the distracting factors in bilateral ties should be removed in a timely manner, highlighting recent Japanese negative moves on issues concerning China's core interests and major concerns, including the Taiwan question.

Some political forces from the Japanese side have made groundless smears and attacks on China, which severely undermined mutual trust and the foundation of bilateral ties, Wang said.

He urged Japan to truly honor the commitments it has made and to not let the forces that attempt to destroy China-Japan relations grow stronger.

Yoshimasa said Japan and China enjoy broad common interests and huge cooperation potential, and he called on the two countries to be committed to developing a constructive and stable bilateral relationship according to the consensus reached between their leaders.

Japan stands ready to work with China to maintain candid communications, reduce misunderstanding and misjudgment, deal appropriately with sensitive issues and promote political mutual trust, he said.

Earlier this week, Wang also held a virtual meeting with the ROK's new Foreign Minister Park Jin, saying that it serves the fundamental interests of China and the ROK to guard against the risk of a new Cold War and oppose bloc confrontation.