JPN Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi (left) responds to a journalist's question as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) listens during the US-Japan Economic Policy Consultative Committee (EPCC) meeting at the State Department in Washington, DC on July 29, 2022.
(TOM BRENNER / POOL / AFP)
BEIJING- China on Monday urged the United States and Japan not to politicize, weaponize and overstretch the concept of national security on economic, trade and sci-tech issues, not target third parties or undermine their interests, still less incite division and confrontation in the name of cooperation and dialogue.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China always upholds the principle of openness, inclusiveness and win-win outcomes and is committed to building an open world economy and sharing development opportunities with all countries
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a routine press conference.
ALSO READ: Pelosi visit won't be tolerated
According to reports, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo held an inaugural ministerial meeting of the US-Japan Economic Policy Consultative Committee (EPCC, or the Economic "2+2") with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Koichi Hagiuda on July 29. Blinken said the two sides talked about China and its "coercive economic policies" as contrary to an open, inclusive, rules-based international monetary system.
ALSO READ: Pelosi's Taiwan saga exposes US hypocrisy
In response, Zhao said China always upholds the principle of openness, inclusiveness and win-win outcomes and is committed to building an open world economy and sharing development opportunities with all countries.
"China never stretches its hands into the house of other countries and meddles in their domestic affairs. China never seeks a trade war and never coerces or suppresses foreign enterprises," he said.
"By contrast, there are plenty of examples of US economic coercion. Economic sanctions, technological blockade, suppression of foreign enterprises and so on ── the United States has done them all. The aim is to maintain US economic hegemony. This not only runs counter to underlying laws of the market, but also violates international trade rules," he added.
ALSO READ: US breaking the global rice bowl
More ironically, the spokesperson pointed out that Japan itself is a victim of US economic coercion. Since the 1980s, the United States has imposed multiple rounds of economic sanctions on Japan, used all kinds of tools to crack down on Japan's competitive industries, and even sought to perform a surgical operation on Japan's economic structure, all of which are text-book examples of economic coercion.
"Why is Japan being selectively amnesic and chasing the steps of the United States on this?" he asked.