TOKYO —
Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua expressed concern Tuesday about the portrayal of China as a threat to Japan and called on Tokyo to see Beijing as a partner in achieving peace and stability in the region.
“If Japan deliberately takes up a sensitive issue between China and Japan and uses it to create tensions and opposition…not only would (such an act) hurt bilateral ties but it would influence peace and stability in the region,” Cheng said in Japanese in a speech at a Tokyo hotel. “In the end, those who hurt others only hurt themselves.”
Ties between the two Asian neighbors have often been beset by disputes over territory and history, although there have been signs of a thaw in recent months.
The ambassador said there had been “negative remarks” about China when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling party and its coalition ally were seeking to enact security legislation last year as well as over territorial issues in the East and South China seas.
Japan, along with other countries, has criticized Beijing’s massive and fast-paced land reclamation in the South China Sea, saying such “unilateral” moves escalate tensions in the area. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines have conflicting territorial claims in the sea.
In the East China Sea, Japan is engaged in a row with China and Taiwan over a group of islets it administers. China stepped up its claim to the islets after Japan purchased a major part of them from a Japanese individual and put them under state control in 2012.
The security legislation, aimed at expanding the activities of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces overseas, was enacted last September in a major shift in Japan’s exclusively defense-oriented postwar security policy.
In arguing for the legislation, Abe cited “an increasingly severe security environment facing Japan,” alluding to China’s growing military assertiveness and North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
On North Korea’s fourth nuclear test conducted Jan. 6, the ambassador said China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, will “support” the council in taking “appropriate” action in response to Pyongyang’s violation of previous U.N. Security Council resolutions banning nuclear tests.
Countries such as the United States, South Korea and Japan are hoping that China, which borders North Korea and is a longtime benefactor of the reclusive country, will be on the same page in seeking a strong and effective U.N. Security Council resolution against Pyongyang.
Cheng also called for dialogue with North Korea, saying six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula should be held to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to protect peace and stability in Northeast Asia.
The six-party talks involving the two Koreas plus China, Japan, the United States and Russia have been deadlocked since late 2008.
Japan should see China as partner, not threat: ambassador ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua expressed concern Tuesday about the portrayal of China as a threat to Japan and called on Tokyo to see Beijing as a partner in achieving peace and stability in the region.
“If Japan deliberately takes up a sensitive issue between China and Japan and uses it to create tensions and opposition…not only would (such an act) hurt bilateral ties but it would influence peace and stability in the region,” Cheng said in Japanese in a speech at a Tokyo hotel. “In the end, those who hurt others only hurt themselves.”
Ties between the two Asian neighbors have often been beset by disputes over territory and history, although there have been signs of a thaw in recent months.
The ambassador said there had been “negative remarks” about China when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling party and its coalition ally were seeking to enact security legislation last year as well as over territorial issues in the East and South China seas.
Japan, along with other countries, has criticized Beijing’s massive and fast-paced land reclamation in the South China Sea, saying such “unilateral” moves escalate tensions in the area. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines have conflicting territorial claims in the sea.
In the East China Sea, Japan is engaged in a row with China and Taiwan over a group of islets it administers. China stepped up its claim to the islets after Japan purchased a major part of them from a Japanese individual and put them under state control in 2012.
The security legislation, aimed at expanding the activities of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces overseas, was enacted last September in a major shift in Japan’s exclusively defense-oriented postwar security policy.
In arguing for the legislation, Abe cited “an increasingly severe security environment facing Japan,” alluding to China’s growing military assertiveness and North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
On North Korea’s fourth nuclear test conducted Jan. 6, the ambassador said China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, will “support” the council in taking “appropriate” action in response to Pyongyang’s violation of previous U.N. Security Council resolutions banning nuclear tests.
Countries such as the United States, South Korea and Japan are hoping that China, which borders North Korea and is a longtime benefactor of the reclusive country, will be on the same page in seeking a strong and effective U.N. Security Council resolution against Pyongyang.
Cheng also called for dialogue with North Korea, saying six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula should be held to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to protect peace and stability in Northeast Asia.
The six-party talks involving the two Koreas plus China, Japan, the United States and Russia have been deadlocked since late 2008.
Japan should see China as partner, not threat: ambassador ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
