Hayashi urges China to play responsible role over Ukraine

Jiji Press

12:36 JST, May 19, 2022

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Wednesday urged China to play a responsible role in maintaining global peace and security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

During a 70-minute video conference with Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi, Hayashi said that Russia’s military aggression is a clear violation of international law, including the U.N. Charter. The last time the two talked was over the phone in November last year.

Hayashi voiced grave concern over repeated intrusions by Chinese government ships into Japanese waters around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture and the situations in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, as well as over human rights issues in Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. He also touched on an incident in which a diplomat of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing was temporarily detained by Chinese authorities in February.

Ahead of the 50th anniversary in September of the normalization of diplomatic ties between Japan and China, Hayashi called for the establishment of constructive and stable bilateral relations.