China’s deputy foreign minister summoned the Japanese ambassador to register an official protest over what the ministry called the “hype around China-related issues” at the G7 summit in Hiroshima over the weekend.
On Saturday, G7 leaders issued a communique that warned China over its “militarisation activities” in the Asia-Pacific region, but that also stated that the bloc wanted “constructive and stable relations” with Beijing.
The leaders of the Quad group – Australia, India, Japan and the US – also delivered a thinly veiled criticism of Beijing, calling for “peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain”.
“We strongly oppose destabilising or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,” the statement said, using diplomatic language that appeared to refer to China’s economic tactics to gain leverage over poorer countries and also its military expansion in the Pacific.
On Monday China’s deputy foreign minister, Sun…
This article was written by Guardian staff and agencies and originally published on www.theguardian.com