Japan wants ‘constructive, stable’ ties with China: PM

TOKYO: Japan wants “constructive and stable” ties with China and calls on Beijing to behave “responsibly”, the country´s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in an interview on Thursday.

Ties between the countries have soured in recent years, with Japan last December calling China the nation´s “greatest strategic challenge ever”, as it announced a major security overhaul including more defence spending.

“We´re facing the most challenging, complex security environment since the war and what must be prioritised, I believe, is proactive diplomacy with China,” Kishida said in an interview with foreign media including AFP.

Japan wants a “constructive and stable relationship” with Beijing, “which requires efforts on both sides”, he added. Japan is this year´s G7 host, and this week the group´s foreign ministers offered a united front on concerns about China, warning it on everything from maritime claims to Taiwan.

The ministers put Beijing on notice over its “militarisation activities” in the South China Sea and accused it of an “accelerating expansion” of its nuclear arsenal. The statement prompted furious reaction from Beijing, which accused the group of having “maliciously slandered and smeared” China.

The foreign ministry said it had “lodged solemn representations with Japan” over the statement, which it called “full of arrogance, prejudice and sinister intent”. Tensions in the region have been stirred by a series of events including Chinese military drills launched after Taiwan´s president met a senior US politician. China considers Taiwan its territory and has vowed to bring the island under its control one day. It also claims the entire Taiwan Strait as its territorial waters.

Kishida said maintaining “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait” was important not only for Japan but for “the stability of the international community”, though he declined to be drawn on how Japan might respond to an invasion.