China urges relevant countries to stop forming blocs, creati

BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese defense ministry spokesperson on Saturday urged relevant countries to stop forming blocs and creating camp confrontation.

Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks at a press briefing when asked to comment on media reports that Japanese and Philippine defense officials issued a joint statement opposing "any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion in the East China Sea and the South China Sea," and voicing concern over what they called China's "dangerous and coercive activities" near Japan and the Philippines. The two sides also pledged to strengthen defense cooperation in areas including equipment technology and information sharing.

"Certain politicians from Japan and the Philippines have been hyping up false narratives on maritime issues and making groundless accusations against China. We are strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes this," Jiang said.

Disregarding the common aspiration of regional countries for peace and development and ignoring the opposition of their own peoples, relevant countries are stepping up military collusion for selfish gains, which will aggravate regional tensions, the spokesperson added.

Japan has sent troops to participate in joint exercises and launched offensive missiles overseas for the first time after the WWII, in a deliberate attempt to break the "exclusively defense-oriented policy," he said.

The Philippines, on its part, is seeking external forces to embolden itself in its infringements and provocations, and attempting to shift blame onto China, Jiang said, adding that such moves are "completely miscalculated."

"We urge relevant countries to stop forming blocs and creating camp confrontation, and to do more things that are truly conducive to regional peace and stability," he said.