China cautions Japan ahead of Biden, Suga meet

Beijing holds aircraft carrier drills in waters near Taiwan

Beijing: China is holding naval drills involving an aircraft carrier battlegroup near Taiwan it said were aimed at safeguarding Chinese sovereignty, an apparent allusion to Beijing’s claim to the self-governed island. The navy said the exercises involving the Liaoning, one of its two aircraft carriers, were routine and assigned under an annual schedule. China has been steadily upping its threat to take control of the island militarily with exercises and routine incursions into the island’s air defence identification zone by Chinese warplanes. AP

US Navy strike group entered S China Sea on April 4

Taipei: The US Navy’s Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TRCSG) entered the South China Sea on April 4 to conduct routine operations, the US Navy said on Tuesday. It was the second time the TRCSG has entered the South China Sea during its 2021 deployment to US 7th Fleet area of operations, the U.S. Navy said. Reuters

Beijing, April 6

China’s foreign minister has cautioned Japan against teaming up with the US to counter China ahead of a US-Japan summit next week.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Japanese counterpart in a phone call Monday evening that their two countries should ensure that bilateral relations “do not get involved in the so-called confrontation between major countries,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

It quoted Wang as saying that “China hopes that Japan, as an independent country, will look at China’s development in an objective and rational way, instead of being misled by some countries holding biased view against China.” Japan, a close US ally that hosts major American naval and air force bases, shares US concerns about China’s military buildup and claims to territory in the South and East China Seas. However its major trade and investment interests in China have at times reined in its criticism of its larger neighbour.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga travels to Washington to meet President Joe Biden on April 16 in what will be the US leader’s first in-person summit since taking office in January.

Biden, in contrast to his predecessor Donald Trump, has stressed rebuilding ties with European and Asian allies as the US prepares for competition with a rising China.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi raised human rights in China’s Xinjiang region and Hong Kong, both important issues for Biden. He also reiterated Japan’s protest against China’s presence in waters around a group of uninhabited, Japan-controlled islands that China claims in the East China Sea.

Wang opposed Japan’s interference in China’s internal affairs in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, the Chinese statement said.

Taiwan is another potential flashpoint, with Suga saying earlier this week that Japan would cooperate with the US on the issue. China regards the self-governing island as a runaway province that should be under Chinese rule.

China, in a signal to the US and its allies. recently sent an aircraft carrier group to waters near Taiwan for training exercises. AP