BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th April, 2019) China hopes that US-Japanese defense industry cooperation would not negatively impact the peace and security in the region, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesman, Lu Kang, said on Wednesday, calling such collaboration between the Washington and Tokyo "a product of the Cold War."
On Tuesday, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency approved a possible $1.15 billion sale of 56 Standard Missile-3 Block IB missiles to Japan.
"We have made note of the statement. US-Japanese relations are a product of the Cold War. We hope that the cooperation between these two countries will contribute to peace and stability in the region," Lu Kang said at a briefing, in response to a question about the potential arms sale.
The spokesman also expressed China's hope that Tokyo and Washington would refrain from taking any actions that would threaten the stability and security in the region.
Despite being on two different sides of the World War II conflict, the United States and Japan united under one front during the Cold War and have since been strategic military allies. In December, the Japanese Defense Ministry said it wanted to purchase US military equipment worth at least $240 billion between April 2019 and March 2024.
