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Beijing Warns US, Japan on Collusion 04/16 06:16
BEIJING (AP) -- China said Friday it has expressed "serious concerns" to the
United States and Japan over what it calls negative moves and collusion between
the two countries against China.
The statement from Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian came just
before President Joe Biden welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to
the White House on Friday in his first face-to-face meeting with a foreign
leader.
That meeting is seen as reflecting Biden's emphasis on strengthening
alliances to deal with a more assertive China and other global challenges.
Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing that Japan and the United States
should "take China's concerns and demands seriously, avoid words and actions
that interfere in China's internal affairs and harm China's interests."
"China has no objection to the development of normal bilateral relations
between Japan and the United States, but such relations should help enhance
mutual understanding and trust among regional countries and contribute to peace
and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, and should not target or harm the
interests of third parties," Zhao said.
China would "make necessary responses as appropriate," he said.
Biden and Suga see their meeting as a chance to counter messaging from
Chinese President Xi Jinping that America and democracies in general are on the
decline, after the political turmoil and backing away from global leadership
that marked Donald Trump's presidency.
Japan remains China's traditional rival dating from Tokyo's brutal WWII
occupation of much of the country. Relations between Washington and Beijing are
tenser than ever over trade, technology, Hong Kong, Taiwan and human rights,
particularly China's policies toward Turkic Muslims in the northwestern region
of Xinjiang.
U.S. and Chinese naval movements in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea,
which China claims virtually in its entirety, have added to tensions in recent
days, following statements from U.S. officials that Beijing may be accelerating
its schedule to annex Taiwan by force.
The Biden administration says the primary challenge for the United States
lies in managing U.S. policies toward the Indo-Pacific, the main theater in
which China is flexing its growing economic and military power. That helped
guide Biden's decision, announced this week, to pull U.S. troops out of
Afghanistan and free the administration to focus more on East Asia.
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