Japan's claims that China has been significantly expanding its military activities in the region are absolutely unsubstantiated and irresponsible, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th August, 2018) Japan's claims that China has been significantly expanding its military activities in the region are absolutely unsubstantiated and irresponsible, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, the Japanese Defense Ministry published its annual white paper where it claimed that China was considerably reinforcing its Navy and Air Force, while also unilaterally expanding activities around Japanese territory, including the disputed Senkaku Islands, and in the South China Sea in order to "change the status quo by coercion and to promote the changed status as an accomplished fact."
"As for the criticism in the latest white paper regarding China's defense planning and military activities, and claims about China's activities on sea, they are completely unfounded and irresponsible," Hua told journalists at a briefing.
The spokeswoman also expressed hope that Tokyo would stop seeking various pretexts to develop its own military potential and would make more efforts to maintain peace and stability in the region, and increase the level of confidence between China and Japan.
Tokyo and Beijing have long been involved in a territorial dispute over the disputed Senkaku Islands, referred to by China as the Diaoyu Islands, which are located next to important shipping routes, and potentially large oil and gas fields. Japan claims it has possessed the islands since 1895, while Beijing recalls that Japanese maps made in 1783 and 1785 pictured the islands as belonging to China. After World War II, the islands were controlled by the United States until Washington returned them to Japan in 1972. Taiwan and mainland China still believe that Tokyo maintains control over the islands illegally.
