BEIJING, March 28. /TASS/. Representatives from China’s military command have expressed concerns over NATO’s activity in the Asia-Pacific region during talks with the bloc’s delegation, Chinese Defense Ministry Spokesman Wu Qian said.

"China expressed concerns and explained its stance on NATO’s eastward expansion, to the Asia-Pacific region, and on the Taiwan issue," the military official said. "The sides agreed to maintain interaction and dialogue," he added.

During the meeting, China and NATO’s military officials shared views on the international and regional situation, exchanges between the two sides in the military sphere and other issues of mutual interest, the spokesman noted.

In mid-March, representatives from the Office for International Military Cooperation of China’s Central Military Commission and the Cooperative Security Division of NATO's International Military Staff held talks in Beijing.

Over recent years, Japan has been actively expanding its cooperation with NATO. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has already participated in the bloc’s summits twice. Japan has a permanent mission at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels.

In 2023, the North Atlantic Treaty alliance launched active discussions about opening a permanent mission in Tokyo. It was supposed to become the center of its activity in Asia. It was expected to make a decision on the matter at the NATO summit in Vilnius last July, however, no agreement on the issue was reached. According to Japan’s Nikkei newspaper, France’s stance was at the forefront here because the country did not want to provoke China which was vehemently against the opening of a NATO office in Japan.