China says Japan’s defense document is ‘full of prejudice’
Beijing, Jul 26 (EFE).- China refuted Japan’s accusations Tuesday about its military policy, saying the latest edition of the Japanese Defense Book “ignores the facts and is full of prejudice.”
Chinese Defense Ministry Spokesman Wu Qian said in a press conference that Japan “makes irresponsible comments” and exaggerates the “military threat from China” in the document published Friday.
Tokyo said in this publication for the second consecutive year about the need to maintain stability in the Taiwan Strait, with Wu saying Japan “seriously interferes in China’s internal affairs and creates tension in the region.”
“Both sides of the Taiwan Strait will never forget that Japan once forcibly seized the island,” Wu added.
China claims sovereignty over the island, which has been governed autonomously since the nationalists of the Kuomintang withdrew there in 1949 after losing the civil war against the communists and continued with the regime of the Republic of China. This culminated in the transition to democracy in the 1990s.
The Japanese report, in a section that breaks down China’s increased activity in the region, also said it could try to unilaterally change the “status quo” of the area, referring to the territorial conflict between the two countries over the Diaoyu Islands, called Senkaku in Japan.
The book accuses China of not being transparent enough and maintaining an “assertive” attitude that could cause “undesired contingencies.”
In this regard, the Chinese Defense spokesman stressed that the archipelago is an “inherent territory” of the country and that the patrols in its waters “are legitimate and legal.”
“We urge the Japanese side to reflect on its history of aggression and stop pretending to be a victim to confuse international audiences,” Wu added.
Japan and China maintain a territorial dispute over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, which many analysts see in the future as a possible theater of armed confrontation between the two countries. EFE
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