BEIJING: The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it had lodged stern representations to Japan over its smearing of China in the newly-released annual defense white paper.
In the paper issued earlier Friday, Japan identifies China as one of its main security concerns and claims that there is “a lack of transparency” in China’s military trends.
The document vilified China’s defense policy, normal military development and legitimate maritime activities, playing up the so-called “China threat” and interfering in China’s internal affairs on the Taiwan question, said Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
“China is strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed to this,” he said, emphasizing that China is committed to a peaceful development.
On Friday, the Chinese Embassy in Japan also rejected the accusations in the documents.
In a statement, the spokesperson for the embassy said Japan has been manipulating China-related issues to exaggerate regional tensions so as to justify its military expansion and its shake-off of post-war bondage, which has caused concerns among regional neighbors including China and the international community.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has long been attempting to break through the limits of its post-World War II pacifist constitution. Under the Article 9, Japan renounces its right to wage war and promises that “land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained.”
The Japanese side should learn from history, stick to the path of peaceful development, watch its words and actions in the military and security fields, and contribute to maintaining regional peace and stability, instead of taking the wrong beggar-thy-neighbor path, said the spokesperson.
