China protests over Japan’s ‘negative and erroneous’ comments in wake of Joe Biden’s Asia tour

The foreign ministry in Beijing summons a Japanese embassy official for a late-night dressing down over comments made during the US president’s visit
Japan and the US reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate over issues such as Taiwan and the South China Sea as well as meeting the other Quad leaders

Diaoyu Islands

Laura Zhou

Published: 10:00pm, 25 May 2022

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Beijing has protested to Japan over what it called “negative and erroneous statements and actions concerning China” hours after US President Joe Biden’s trip to Tokyo.

Liu Jingsong, the director general of the Chinese foreign ministry’s department of Asian affairs, summoned Fumio Shimizu, a senior member of the embassy staff in Beijing, late on Tuesday night, the ministry said in a brief statement.

Liu told Shimizu that Japan’s recent remarks regarding China “at the Japan-US leaders’ meeting, the Japan-US joint statement and Quad summit” were “negative and erroneous”, the statement said, adding that Liu “made stern representations and expressed strong dissatisfaction and serious concern”.

The summons came hours after Biden wrapped up his first Asian tour as president. The visit to Tokyo included a summit with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, during which the two allies reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate on a wide range of issues, including Taiwan, the East and South China seas, as well as China’s military cooperation with Russia.

And on Tuesday, the pair also met the Indian and Australian prime ministers for a meeting of the Quad, which Beijing has attacked as a US-led attempt to create an Asian version of Nato.

In an apparent show of strength, Chinese and Russian warplanes conducted a joint patrol over the Sea of Japan and East China Sea during the Quad summit, prompting Japan and South Korea to scramble fighter jets in response.

The Chinese defence ministry said later that the air patrols were not targeting a third party nor related to the international situation.

03:09

US President Joe Biden says US military will defend Taiwan if attacked

On Wednesday, the Communist Party’s official mouthpiece People’s Daily lashed out at Japan for endangering regional stability and peace by “drawing wolves into the house”.

In the strongly worded commentary published under the pen name “Zhong Sheng” – which means “Voice of China” – the paper said Japan was obsessed with acting as “a strategic vassal” of the US to provoke confrontation and act as “a spoiler of regional peace and stability”.

While Tokyo and Washington had been stepping up pressure over issues like Taiwan, the East and the South China seas, China would never compromise, it said.

“By creating trouble on the Taiwan issue, Japan will only put itself on the opposite side of the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people and on the Diaoyu Islands and the South China Sea. No matter what Japan and the US say or do, it will not change the fact that the Diaoyu Islands belong to China, nor will it change China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea,” it said.

The Diaoyu Islands, known in Japan as the Senkakus, are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that are contested between the two countries.

The paper said Japan’s alliance with the US should not “be an excuse for Japan to harm China’s interest”, adding: “It’s dangerous to take advantage of other people’s fires, and it’s doomed to benefit yourself at the expense of your neighbours.”