The Central News Agency quoted the Japan Broadcasting Association (NHK) as reporting that the U.S.-Japan Security Council “2+2” talks were attended by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, while The Japanese side was attended by Foreign Minister Toshichika Mogi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi. The Japanese side was represented by Foreign Minister Toshimichi Mogi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi. The talks were strongly critical of the Chinese Communist Party‘s actions at sea and human rights issues.
Li Hongzhong, a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo and secretary of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee, said during a meeting Thursday with Japanese Ambassador to Beijing Hideo Chui, who was visiting Tianjin, “(Japan) openly criticizes the CCP’s internal affairs and interferes in issues such as Hong Kong, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Taiwan, which clearly undermine the improving relations between the two countries, and (Beijing) feels very sorry.”
In response, Chui Hideo responded, “If there are problems between the two countries, they should communicate properly to solve them, and I cannot accept Secretary Li’s statement at all.”
On the eve of the first high-level U.S.-China talks since Biden became president, Blinken and Austin were in Tokyo on Tuesday (March 16) for U.S.-Japan talks. Blinken warned the Chinese Communist Party against using “coercion and aggression” to achieve its goals, and that the U.S. and its allies would fight back if necessary.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimichi Mogi said that issues related to the Chinese Communist Party dominated most of his talks with Blinken and expressed strong opposition to the Communist Party’s “unilateral attempts” to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas.
Austin, for his part, said the U.S.-Japan alliance is critical to containing the Chinese Communist Party in the Indo-Pacific. “The U.S.-Japan alliance is the cornerstone of our Indo-Pacific strategy,” he said in Tokyo.
He added that Japan shares U.S. concerns about the CCP’s destabilizing actions and that “[the CCP] has engaged in aggressive and in some cases coercive behavior, some of which is directed at our allies in the region.”
U.S. and Japanese officials also discussed Washington’s “unwavering commitment” to defend Japan in its maritime disputes with Beijing and reiterated their opposition to the CCP’s “illegal” maritime claims in the South China Sea.
On March 17, CCP Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian also expressed dissatisfaction with the U.S.-Japan “2+2” talks: “Japan is willing to look up to others and act as a strategic vassal of the U.S., and is willing to renege on its trust and undermine Sino-Japanese relations, and is willing to draw wolves into the house and sell out the overall interests of the region. Such practices are disgraceful.”
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