China Cautions Japan as it Speaks up before Biden, Suga Meet

China’s foreign minister cautioned Japan against teaming up with the US to counter China, as Japan speaks up more on human rights in Xinjiang ahead of a US-Japan summit next week.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
told his Japanese counterpart in a phone call Monday evening that their two
countries should ensure that bilateral relations “do not get involved in the
so-called confrontation between major countries,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry
statement said.
It quoted Wang as saying that
“China hopes that Japan, as an independent country, will look at China’s
development in an objective and rational way, instead of being misled by some
countries holding biased view against China.”
Japan, a close US ally that hosts
major American naval and air force bases, shares US concerns about China's
military buildup and claims to territory in the South and East China Seas.
However, its major trade and investment interests in China have at times reined
in its criticism of its larger neighbor.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide
Suga travels to Washington to meet President Joe Biden on April 16 in what will
be the US leader’s first in-person summit since taking office in January.
Biden, in contrast to his
predecessor Donald Trump, has stressed rebuilding ties with European and Asian
allies as the US prepares for competition with a rising China.
Japanese Foreign Minister
Toshimitsu Motegi raised human rights in China's Xinjiang region and Hong Kong,
both important issues for Biden. He also reiterated Japan's protest against
China's presence in waters around a group of uninhabited, Japan-controlled
islands that China claims in the East China Sea.
Motegi expressed “grave concern
over the human rights situation in the Xinjiang region and requested China to
take concrete actions” for improvement, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato
told reporters Tuesday. He reiterated that Japan places great importance on
"universal values such as freedom, human rights and rule of law.”
Some members of a foreign policy
team within Suga's conservative ruling party have called for his government to
take a tougher stance against China over the Xinjiang situation. They say Japan
should adopt a law to impose sanctions against a foreign country over human
rights violations.
The United States, Canada, Britain
and the European Union have adopted such a law, and they say Japan is the only
Group of Seven country without it.
Japan has taken a softer approach
by maintaining dialogue rather than unilateral sanctions. But Kato on Tuesday
said Japan is open to considering a possibility of having such a law.
"It is necessary to analyze and consider whether
Japan should adopt a system that would unilaterally determine human rights
violations and impose sanctions, taking into consideration various views
including our ongoing human rights and foreign policies and trends in the
international community.”
Wang opposed Japan’s interference
in China’s internal affairs in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, the Chinese statement
said.
Taiwan is another potential
flashpoint, with Suga saying earlier this week that Japan would cooperate with
the US on the issue. China regards the self-governing island as a renegade
province that should be under Chinese rule.
China, in a signal to the US and its allies, recently sent an aircraft carrier group to waters near Taiwan for training exercises.