[April 18, Xinhua News]At a regular press conference on the 16th, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Lin Jian said that the 2024 edition of the diplomatic bluebook, which Japan announced on the same day, states that China and Japan have “strategic mutual benefits”. Regarding the explicit mention of “relationships between the two countries” for the first time in five years, he called on Japan to truly position the mutually beneficial strategic relationship as the basis for the development of bilateral relations. Mr. Hayashi’s statement is as follows.

At a meeting in San Francisco in November last year, the leaders of China and Japan reaffirmed the position of their relationship as comprehensively promoting a mutually beneficial strategic relationship, and set important political guidelines for improving and developing the relationship. Showed. China firmly opposes Japan’s related documents using well-worn phrases that defame and criticize China, exaggerating the theory that China is a threat, and interfering in China’s internal affairs. We urge Japan to correct its wrong ways, stop inciting and creating rivalries, and make the position of mutually beneficial strategic relationships truly the basis for the development of bilateral relations, meeting the demands of the new era. We urge them to make unremitting efforts to build constructive and stable China-Japan relations. (c)Xinhua News/AFPBB News