No plan for China-Japan meeting

BEIJING - A Defense Ministry spokesman on Thursday confirmed there is no plan for Chinese and Japanese defense ministers to meet during the second ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus).

Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan and his Japanese counterpart Itsunori Onodera had a brief conversation on Wednesday evening in Brunei at a banquet ahead of the ADMM-Plus, spokesman Yang Yujun told a monthly press conference.

It is the first contact between defense ministers of the two countries since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office last December.

During their conversation, Chang told Onodera it is time for the provoker to correct its mistakes, said Yang.

Relations between China and Japan soured following the Japanese government's unilateral move in September 2012 to "nationalize" part of the Diaoyu Islands which have been Chinese territory since ancient times.

Japanese cabinet members' worshipping of the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, the day of Japan's surrender at the end of World War II, further strained Japan's already tense relations with China.

Recently, Japan has made calls for a dialogue with China without any conditions, but China said the Japanese side has kept acting provocatively, rendering its stated desire for dialogue insincere.

On Thursday, Chang attended the biennial ADMM-Plus with defense ministers and senior defense officials from the 10 ASEAN countries, as well as Australia, China, Japan, India, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.

Prior to the meeting, Chang met with defense officials from the United States, Brunei and Malaysia respectively.

Later on Thursday, the defense minister will also meet with defense leaders from the Republic of Korea, New Zealand and Russia as scheduled, said Yang.