Photo: VCG

 The Chinese Embassy in Japan on Saturday warned Tokyo not to put bilateral ties in reverse and pull itself into the vortex of confrontation between major powers, after Japan and the US issued a joint statement that grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs regarding Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

“Recently, Japan has successively taken negative actions on China-related issues, seriously damaging mutual political trust between the two sides and disrupting efforts by both sides to develop bilateral relations,” a spokesperson for the embassy said in a statement. 

The statement was issued in response to a Japan-US joint statement following a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, which leveled a series of accusations against China.

Most notably, the statement took aim at China’s internal affairs regarding the island of Taiwan. It was the first time Japanese and American leaders mentioned Taiwan in a joint statement since the meeting between Eisaku Sato and Richard Nixon in 1969 before China and Japan established diplomatic relations.

China has lodged solemn representations with Japan and the US over their groundless accusations against China, gross interference in China’s internal affairs and violation of China’s territory and sovereignty, the spokesperson said.

“China will continue to take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests,” the statement said, adding that China’s position on the East China Sea and South China Sea issues has sufficient historical and legal basis. 

The US’ and Japan’s accusation that China violated the rules-based international order is “groundless” because the world only follows one set of rules on international relations set by the UN Charter, the embassy said. 

The US-Japan alliance is an arrangement between the two that should not target and harm the interests of a third party, the statement said, adding that holding such a stubborn Cold War mentality, forming cliques and small circles and even inciting political confrontation is completely against the trend of the times and such a plot is doomed to fail.

The embassy urged Japan and the US to abandon their outdated zero-sum game thinking and stop pointing fingers against China. Specifically, it called on Japan to abide by the principles and commitments that were outlined by the four political documents of the two countries, to avoid turbulence, stagnation and regression in bilateral ties.

Global Times