China warned yesterday that increasing US-Japan military cooperation should be strictly bilateral and not encompass Beijing's arch-rival Taiwan.
Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (
"Any part of putting Taiwan directly or indirectly into the scope of Japan-US security cooperation constitutes an encroachment on China's sovereignty and interference in China's internal affairs," Li said. "The Chinese government and people are firmly against such activities."
During a wide-ranging press conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress, Li characterized the military pact between Japan and the US as a "bilateral arrangement" that came about during the Cold War.
Such a relationship, Li warned, should be "strictly restricted" to a bilateral nature, adding that any expansion of the alliance could cause problems in the region.
"If it goes beyond the bilateral scope, definitely it would arouse uneasiness on the part of Asian countries and bring about complicated factors to the regional security situation," Li said.
Beijing has been increasingly wary of Washington and Tokyo's close strategic partnership.
The Taiwan issue was the "most sensitive" and core issue facing Sino-US ties, he said.
China last month voiced strong opposition to a US and Japanese statement which described Taiwan as a common security issue, slamming the allies' move as "inappropriate."
Washington and Tokyo jointly urged China, which has over 600 missiles amassed opposite Taiwan, "to improve transparency of its military affairs."
Regarding relations with Japan, Li said present ties with Tokyo should be "cherished" as they have come through "long-term and arduous efforts," but Tokyo must "properly" handle its relations with Taiwan and back down from its claims to the disputed Senkaku, or Tiaoyu Islands, in the East China Sea.
The long-standing territorial dispute has recently been at the center of noisy anti-Japanese protests in China, as well as in Hong Kong, but Li said China hoped to resolve the dispute through dialogue.
"China has indisputable, historical and legal sovereignty over the Tiaoyu Island and the adjacent islands," Li said.
"No glib words or tricky action can change this fact nor can it be changed by any unilateral action by any foreign country," he said in apparent reference to the recent building of structures by Japan on the islands.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats