BEIJING, January 11. /TASS/. China calls on the British and Japanese authorities not to invent ‘imaginary enemies’ in the Asia-Pacific region, the country’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a briefing on Wednesday.
"The Asia-Pacific region is a space for peaceful development, not an arena for geopolitical games. And China is a cooperative partner for every country, not a challenge to any state," he said, commenting on preparations for the signing of a defense cooperation agreement by the prime ministers of the United Kingdom and Japan.
"The initiation of defense cooperation between the respective countries [the UK and Japan] should help promote mutual understanding and trust among all nations. There is no need to invent an imaginary enemy and certainly not to introduce the outdated ideology of bloc confrontation into the region," the diplomat pointed out.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida will meet on Wednesday in London to sign an agreement that will allow the temporary deployment of British forces on Japanese territory during military drills or emergencies. The document seeks to simplify the organization of joint exercises and logistical cooperation between the two countries. It will also reduce the amount of bureaucratic hurdles if one country needs to deploy troops on the territory of the other.
A year ago, Japan concluded a similar agreement with Australia.