DHAKA: China on Wednesday accused the Philippines of creating tension in the region and urged Manila to show ‘sincerity’ in upholding stability after president Benigno Aquino welcomed Japan’s more assertive military policy.
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe made it clear on Tuesday he wanted an early agreement with his ruling party’s dovish junior partner to ease constitutional curbs that have kept Japan’s military from fighting abroad since World War Two.
Aquino said after meeting Abe that ‘nations of goodwill can only benefit if the Japanese government is empowered to assist others’.
China’s foreign ministry said Aquino’s statement had complicated an already difficult situation.
‘We think that the relevant country should earnestly show its sincerity, meet China halfway, rather than creating tensions and rivalry and adding new, complicating factors to the situation in the region,’ spokesman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing, reports The Straits Times.
BDST: 2033 HRS, JUNE 25, 2014