China calls Japan third party, asks not to meddle in border disputes with India
Beijing: Stating that the boundary dispute between the two neighbouring countries are yet to be delimited, China on Friday termed Japan as ‘third party’ in context to Arunachal Pradesh and urged it to stay out of the border issue between India and China.
Expressing dissatisfaction over Japan's investment plan in northeast India under Japan-India Joint Statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, “Any third party should respect the efforts made by China and India to settle the disputes through negotiation”.
The India-Japan joint statement read, "The two Prime Ministers welcomed the India-Japan cooperation on development of India's North Eastern Region (NER) as a concrete symbol of developing synergies between India's Act East policy and Japan's Free and Open Indo Pacific Strategy."
“Any third party should not meddle in the disputes between China and India over territorial sovereignty in any form,” Hua said.
However, Japan had accused Beijing of changing status quo, during Doklam standoff with India.
The 70-day-long Doklam standoff between began with New Delhi’s opposition to Beijing’s road construction in tri-junction point between India-Bhutan-China. The standoff ended in August.
Stating that there are disputes over the eastern section of the China-India boundary, the spokesperson said: “China's position on the boundary issue is consistent. Now, China and India are working on seeking a fair and reasonable settlement which can be accepted by both sides through negotiations”.
India and Japan had on Thursday signed Joint Statement for the development of northeastern states during Japan PM Shinzo Abe’s two-day visit to India for the inauguration of high-speed Bullet Train between Ahemdabad-Mumbai.
The spokesperson mentions that her government has read the joint statement between India and Japan, and is bit surprised to see that there isn’t any reference to China where it is needed, including the development/investment near border areas like Arunachal.
When asked about the India and Japan’s indirect allusion in the joint statement regarding border dispute, navigation, and Belt and Road initiative, the Chinese side explained that “it is better to ask Japan and India and see whether they can make some clarifications on this”.
“Japan and India are important countries in Asia. We hope that the development of normal relations between Japan and India can play a constructive role for the mutual trust and cooperation between regional countries and the peace, stability and development of the region”, the spokesperson said.
