India will not fall for Japan's 'tricks' easily: Chinese daily

Beijing, Jan 23: Slamming Japanese Foreign Minister's remarks on Arunachal Pradesh, a state-run daily on Friday accused Japan of deliberately wading into China's territorial disputes with other countries and said India will not fall for such "tricks" easily.

Claiming that the "so called Arunachal Pradesh" was part of Tibet, an article in the state-run Global Times took exception to Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida remarks stating that it was "an Indian territory".

Following a protest lodged by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kishida defended himself, telling reporters in Brussels on January 19 that "India basically and effectively controls (the region), and China and India are continuing consultations on the border issue. I made the remark taking these facts into account."

"Kishida's remarks have showed Japan's clear tactic of taking sides over disputed territory by backing India and that Tokyo's ambition goes beyond just strengthening its relationship with India," the article said.

Earlier, China had protested with Japan and asked it to immediately issue a clarification and correct the "negative impact" arising out of the comments.

Friday's article said ever since the dispute over the islands in East China Sea escalated, "Japan has more than once deliberately stepped into China's territorial disputes with other countries. For example, it has provided ships and assistance for the Philippines and pledged to help the country defend its 'remote islands'."

"This unveils Japan's intent of 'uniting' the countries that have territorial disputes with China, in an attempt to create a strong impression that Japan, along with China's other neighbouring countries, is bullied by a rising China. In the case of a conflict, Japan can put the blame on China instead of itself," the article said.

"This is not the first time that Japan has cozied up to India," it said referring to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to New Delhi. During his India visit, Abe said Japan is a friend of India and praised the contribution of Indian jurist Radhabinod Pal, who cast a dissenting vote against the conviction of Japanese officials of war crimes during the second world war.

"Such inappropriate remarks hurt not only the feelings of the Chinese people, but also the interests of Japan's ally, the US," the article said.

"But India is not going to fall for Japan's tricks easily. As an emerging power, India has made its political philosophy very clear when it comes to Japan's attitude toward history. Successive governments in India have all clearly expressed that Japan should reflect deeply on its wartime past," it said.

PTI