China, S Korea lash out at Japan diplomacy paper

FE Team | Published: April 05, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

TOKYO, Apr 4 (AFP): China and South Korea Friday lashed out at a Japanese foreign relations report that stood firm on territorial claims which have put Tokyo on a collision course with its Asian neighbours.
An angry South Korea summoned Japan's ambassador in response to the annual paper, while Beijing warned that Japan was "turning a blind eye to basic facts" and making "ungrounded accusations against China".
The foreign ministry-issued document, called the "diplomatic blue book", said the security environment in Asia Pacific has become "increasingly more severe" with emerging powers such as China and India expanding their global presence.
Tokyo has renewed its claim to islands in the East China Sea, also claimed by Beijing, and sovereignty over a disputed island chain known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea.
The report criticised China's efforts to "change the status quo by force" in the region, and said Beijing's territorial claims amounted to "assertions incompatible with the existing order of international law".
Beijing has claimed ownership of almost all of the South China Sea, angering other regional neighbours including the Philippines.
It has also routinely sent ships near Tokyo-controlled islands called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, triggering air and sea skirmishes.
China set a new air defense zone over the islands last year, sparking sharp protest from the United States, Japan and South Korea.
The blue book said the Japan-US alliance had become even more important to counter China, with the close ties underscored by a US decision this week not to send a warship to a naval ceremony in China after learning Japan was not invited.
US President Barack Obama is due to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later this month in Japan as part of Washington's bid to boost its regional influence.
Beijing dismissed the report, and made an apparent reference to Abe's efforts to turn pacifist Japan's Self-Defence Forces into a regular army.