Japan unclear on Doklam facts
Abe wants to build Asia alliance with India: expert
The Chinese foreign ministry has warned Japan to ensure it is clear on the facts before commenting on the China-India standoff in Doklam after a Japanese diplomat made a statement on the issue.
Hua Chunying, spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Friday that the Japanese ambassador in India might really want to back India, but “I want to warn him not to speak carelessly before he is fully aware of the facts.”
Hua noted that there are no territorial disputes in the Doklam area, as both China and India have recognized and adhered to the delimited China-India border in Sikkim for 127 years. It is India that has crossed the border illegally to create issues and change the status quo, not China.
Japanese Ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu recently said that there should be no attempt to change the status quo on the ground by force, which India considered was a “significant act of support for India,” the Times of India reported on Friday.
“What is important in disputed areas is that all parties involved do not resort to unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force [but] resolve the dispute in a peaceful manner,” Hiramatsu told The Indian Express.
Hiramatsu is also concurrently accredited as the Japanese ambassador to Bhutan, The Indian Express said.
The Times of India reported that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will be in Gujarat for three days from September 13.
“Abe wishes to build an alliance in Asia, and wants to join hands with India to confront China,” Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.
“India and Japan see China as a common opponent … they have been strengthening cooperation on nuclear issues and national defense as well as forming the ‘freedom corridor’ to rival China’s Belt and Road initiative,” Hu said.
“Japan’s public statement at such a sensitive time is to strengthen India’s dependence on Japan and to counteract the pressure from China in the East China Sea,” Hu noted.
He noted that India has not received public support or help from other major powers such as the US and Russia over the standoff.
“If they showed support to India publicly, China would strike back strongly with the truth, because in this case, India is in the wrong,” he said.
As of August 7, 53 Indian troops and one bulldozer remained in Chinese territory. India has complained about China’s new roads, but it, too, has been building roads and a large number of Indian troops are massed in the area, Xinhua reported.