China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has met with his recently appointed Japanese counterpart Taro Kono after slamming Japan’s pro-US stance on China’s sovereignty over the waters and islands of the South China Sea.
While Japan is not located on the South China Sea and has long since ceased its former aggressive colonial activities in the region, Tokyo continues to express what China calls a carbon-copy of US policy which calls for the molestation of China’s rights in its southern sea.
Wang Yi highlighted a joint-statement of Japan, the US and Australia which condemned Chinese activities in the South China Sea, in spite of the fact that none of the countries who signed the statement have maritime borders with the South China Sea. Wang has said the following of the Japanese foreign minister’s attitude,
“We felt that you were forced to fulfill a mission that the United States had given you”.
He then added,
“You can take a look at the joint statement issued … and you can draw your own conclusion”.
The clear implication here is that Japan is simply reading from an American drafted script.
Wang further stated,
“I gradually came to know the true Kono, a Kono who can be dealt with. I wanted to learn his real thinking in his heart and I want to understand what his diplomatic philosophy is, including what he has learned from his experience growing up with his father”.
The current Japanese foreign minister’s father, Yōhei Kōno was known to be a politician in Japan who favoured good relations with China.
Wang stated that he eventually reached common ground with Kono, however, the point China made was loud and clear. So long as Asian nations whether India in South Asia, Japan in East Asia or the countries of South East Asia form a view of their region based on an American rather than a local perspective, things will become difficult. If nations are allowed to have opinions that are Asian in orientation, it will be much easier for all Asian nations to engage in cooperative measures with the major super-power of East Asia, the People’s Republic of China.
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