China wants the US to rail against Japan and Philippines.
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BEIJING China called on the United States on Tuesday to restrain ally Japan and chided another U.S. ally, the Philippines, at the end of talks between American and Chinese defense chiefs that showed the strain of regional territorial disputes on Sino-U.S. ties.
The forceful comments by Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan came just a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel toured Chinas sole aircraft carrier, in a rare opening by Beijing to a potent symbol of its military ambitions.
Chang and Hagel spoke positively about improving military ties and announced steps to deepen them further. But the effort could do little to mask long-standing tension over of a range of issues, including in cyberspace but focused mainly on the two U.S. allies locked in territorial disputes with China.
China claims 90 percent of the 3.5 million-sq.-km (1.35 million-sq.-mile) South China Sea, where the Philippines, along with other countries, stake claims. China has a separate dispute with Japan in the East China Sea over uninhabited islets that are administered by Japan.
Chang asked the United States to keep (Japan) within bounds and not to be permissive and supportive, and railed against the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whom Hagel met in Tokyo last weekend.
It is Japan who is being provocative against China, Chang told a news conference after talks with Hagel.
If you come to the conclusion that China is going to resort to force against Japan, that is wrong . . . we will not take the initiative to stir up troubles.
Chang called the Philippines a nation disguising itself as a victim and renewed its opposition to Manilas pursuit of international arbitration in its festering territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
Hagel, who met the defense minister from the Philippines last week, said he raised U.S. concerns in Beijing over the tension in the South and East China Sea in Beijing.
He cautioned that no countries should resort to intimidation, coercion, or aggression to advance their claims.
The Philippines and Japan are longtime allies of the United States. We have mutual self defense treaties with each of those two countries, Hagel said. And we are fully committed to those treaty obligations.
The U.S. State Department has accused Chinas coast guard of harassment of Philippine vessels and called its recent attempt to block a Philippine resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed atoll, provocative and destabilizing.
Hagels visit to China came after a stop in Japan, where he called China a great power but urged it to use that power wisely.
The official English-language China Daily, in an editorial Tuesday, slammed those comments and accused Hagel of emboldening countries in their bids to provoke China.
Although it professes not to take sides, the U.S. has again sent a message to those Asian countries which have territorial disputes with China that the U.S. will throw its weight behind them in their actions against China, the state-run paper wrote.
China calls on U.S. to restrain ally Japan as tension simmers | The Japan Times
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BEIJING China called on the United States on Tuesday to restrain ally Japan and chided another U.S. ally, the Philippines, at the end of talks between American and Chinese defense chiefs that showed the strain of regional territorial disputes on Sino-U.S. ties.
The forceful comments by Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan came just a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel toured Chinas sole aircraft carrier, in a rare opening by Beijing to a potent symbol of its military ambitions.
Chang and Hagel spoke positively about improving military ties and announced steps to deepen them further. But the effort could do little to mask long-standing tension over of a range of issues, including in cyberspace but focused mainly on the two U.S. allies locked in territorial disputes with China.
China claims 90 percent of the 3.5 million-sq.-km (1.35 million-sq.-mile) South China Sea, where the Philippines, along with other countries, stake claims. China has a separate dispute with Japan in the East China Sea over uninhabited islets that are administered by Japan.
Chang asked the United States to keep (Japan) within bounds and not to be permissive and supportive, and railed against the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whom Hagel met in Tokyo last weekend.
It is Japan who is being provocative against China, Chang told a news conference after talks with Hagel.
If you come to the conclusion that China is going to resort to force against Japan, that is wrong . . . we will not take the initiative to stir up troubles.
Chang called the Philippines a nation disguising itself as a victim and renewed its opposition to Manilas pursuit of international arbitration in its festering territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
Hagel, who met the defense minister from the Philippines last week, said he raised U.S. concerns in Beijing over the tension in the South and East China Sea in Beijing.
He cautioned that no countries should resort to intimidation, coercion, or aggression to advance their claims.
The Philippines and Japan are longtime allies of the United States. We have mutual self defense treaties with each of those two countries, Hagel said. And we are fully committed to those treaty obligations.
The U.S. State Department has accused Chinas coast guard of harassment of Philippine vessels and called its recent attempt to block a Philippine resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed atoll, provocative and destabilizing.
Hagels visit to China came after a stop in Japan, where he called China a great power but urged it to use that power wisely.
The official English-language China Daily, in an editorial Tuesday, slammed those comments and accused Hagel of emboldening countries in their bids to provoke China.
Although it professes not to take sides, the U.S. has again sent a message to those Asian countries which have territorial disputes with China that the U.S. will throw its weight behind them in their actions against China, the state-run paper wrote.
China calls on U.S. to restrain ally Japan as tension simmers | The Japan Times
