China tells Japan it is troubled by Tokyo’s military build up: ‘To be honest…’

A senior Chinese diplomat told his Japanese counterpart that Beijing was very troubled by Tokyo’s military build up and criticised it for adopting a “Cold War mentality” in their first formal security talks in four years.

“To be honest, we have concerns over Japan’s release of its new defence and security documents,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong said on Wednesday at the start of the meeting in Tokyo with Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Shigeo Yamada.

The security talks aimed at easing tensions between the East Asian neighbours come as Tokyo worries, in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, that Beijing will resort to military action to take control of Taiwan, and in doing so embroil Japan.

Japan hosts the biggest overseas concentration of American forces outside the United States.