BEIJING- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Friday (May 13) that a joint EU-Japan statement mentioning a territorial dispute between China and Japan was an attempt to slander China and itself to interfere in its internal affairs.
The statement, issued after a joint EU-China summit in Tokyo, expressed concern over the situation around the disputed islands in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan. China also claims the islands, which it calls Diaoyu.
“Japan and the European Union speculated on China-related issues at the conference, slandered and discredited China, interfered in China’s internal affairs and provoked regional confrontations,” Zhao said at a regular briefing in Beijing.
“China is firmly opposed and has already issued solemn statements to the relevant parties.”
European Union leaders also said in Tokyo on Thursday that the EU wants to become a bigger player in Asia, which they described as a “theatre of tensions,” and warned of an increasingly assertive China, although they urged Beijing to to defend a multilateral world order.
The EU-Japan Summit was attended by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Both European leaders also warned of China’s close ties with Russia and condemned unilateral moves to change the status quo in every region of the world.
The statement from their summit added that the EU and Japan would deepen exchanges on China, including on the situation in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
Read Also :