The head of Japan’s navy on Monday repeated criticisms of China’s pursuit of territorial claims in Asia, but called for a resumption of port and personnel visits suspended for several years amid rising tensions between the two Asian powers.
Exchange visits by senior naval personnel and warships were effective in improving relationships between armed forces, Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Admiral Tomohisa Takei said.
“They should be resumed as soon as possible,” he told a Washington think tank. “Our door is open.”
Photo: Reuters
While criticizing China for its actions in the East China Sea, where Tokyo and Beijing have competing territorial claims, and in the South China Sea, where China has rival claims with Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, Takei sought to play down remarks by Japanese Minister of Defense Tomomi Inada last week on plans to step up cooperation with the US Navy.
He said Inada’s statement that Japan would step up engagement in the South China Sea with “joint training cruises” with the US did not mean it intended to carry out patrols there, and that this had been misinterpreted.
“It means transit from one point to another; to use such occasions to conduct mutual or bilateral exercises, training with a foreign country,” he said. “That is the usual training and operation we have already conducted for several years.”
Takei said Tokyo had no plans “at this time” to join Washington in freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea, even though it was a vital waterway for the transit of 90 percent of Japan’s crude oil and 80 percent of its natural gas.
“And we are not thinking of conducting operations only by ourselves,” he added.
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