Japan urges China to become more transparent about military

October 28, 2017

TOKYO- Japan on Friday urged China to become more transparent about its expanding military after Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a goal of making his country a strong power.

The two countries' foreign affairs and defense officials held security talks in Tokyo for the first time since the Communist Party of China's congress, which closed on Tuesday.

China consistently sticks to the path of peaceful development and national defense policy that is wholly defensive, Chinese participants to the Tokyo meeting said.

The Japanese side requested China to explain ballooning military expenses and warship and aircraft activities near Japan, stressing the importance of such explanations in order to nurture mutual trust.

"It is true that mutual concerns exist over the respective security policies of Japan and China," Japanese Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba said.

In response, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou stressed that the lack of mutual trust, especially in the political field, poses a fundamental obstacle to improving and developing bilateral relations.

The two also discussed responses to North Korea's missile and nuclear development programs and China's maritime expansion. They agreed to work harder so that their countries can start operating a maritime and aerial communication mechanism early.

Later, Kong had intensive discussions on North Korea with Kenji Kanasugi, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau. They confirmed their countries' cooperation to ensure the full implementation of the U.N. Security Council sanctions resolutions against North Korea.

Ahead of these meetings, Kong paid a courtesy visit to Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.

They discussed the schedules for an envisioned trilateral summit meeting of Japan, China and South Korea and Kono's visit to China, expected for mid-November. Japan hopes to hold the three-way summit by year-end. Jiji Press