BEIJING: Beijing said on Monday ( Feb 10 ) that a joint statement by the United States and Japan condemning its “provocative activities” in the contested South China Sea “attacks and smears” China.
Despite a 2016 worldwide decision stating that this claim has no constitutional base, China claims almost all of the South China Sea.
After meeting in Washington, US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Friday that they were opposed to China’s “unlawful sea says, militarisation of restored features, and menacing and provocative actions in the South China Sea.
Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for the Foreign foreign ministry, responded,” The China-related information of the US-Japan joint declaration clearly interferes with China’s domestic affairs, attacks and smears China, and exaggerates local tensions.”
China had “lodged grave images” with both places, he added at a typical press briefing.
Trump and Ishiba met for the first time on Friday, both of whom praised one another and supported long-standing ties in business and safety.
With around 54, 000 US military officers stationed in the country, Japan is one of the country’s closest friends in Asia.
Beijing has in recent months pressed its regional states in the South China Sea- which overlap Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan’s- more vociferously.