Don’t use China as a hedge against US, Beijing’s envoy warns Japan
China’s top envoy to Japan has warned Tokyo against using better ties with Beijing as a hedge against uncertainty in its ties with Washington.
“It is wrong and undermines the foundations of China-Japan relations to [use China to] hedge against changes in the US and great uncertainties in the US-Japan alliance,” Wu said.
“Both China and Japan are major powers on the global stage … Sino-Japanese relations and Japan-US relations should not be seen as antagonistic or conflicting with one another.”
Wu said Beijing did not make any demands about the Japan-US alliance and did not even consider it as a problem when diplomatic relations were normalised decades ago.
“But, it is vital that the alliance not be used as a means to confront and contain China,” he said.