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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
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China’s defence ministry has urged Japan to stop “dangerous” close monitoring of the country’s navy exercises, saying it poses a serious safety threat to both sides.
Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian on Thursday also accused Japan of using Chinese military activities as an excuse to expand its own military.
It follows a drill in the western Pacific early this month, when China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier strike group was shadowed by Japan’s Izumo warship. The Japanese air force also scrambled fighter jets in response to the PLA exercise south of Okinawa.
“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.”
Wu also hit out at recent remarks by both Japan and the United States on the defence of Taiwan against mainland China – comments he said were violations of Chinese sovereignty. Beijing sees the self-ruled island as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under mainland control.
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