China has taken aim at Britain’s growing ties with Japan, warning it against any involvement in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a British aircraft carrier made a port call in Tokyo.
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“We urge Britain and Japan to deeply reflect on their erroneous words and deeds regarding Taiwan- and maritime-related issues, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, and refrain from stirring up trouble and creating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region,” the Chinese embassy in Britain said on Thursday.
The embassy was responding to a joint statement by British Defence Secretary John Healey and his Japanese counterpart, Gen Nakatani, in Tokyo.
According to the statement, the two ministers agreed that “the security and prosperity of the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific are indivisible”, and “reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”.
In an apparent reference to Beijing, they also said they had “serious concerns” about the East China and South China seas and “strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion”.
The talks between Nakatani and Healey coincided with a port call by the Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, in Tokyo as part of an eight-month deployment in the Indo-Pacific.