US President Donald Trump and visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba held their first official meeting in Washington DC on Friday. Ishiba became the first Asian leader to do so in Trump's second term, according to the Washington Post. He is also Trump's first meeting with the leader of a key US ally in Asia.

At the joint press conference on Friday, Trump claimed he and Ishiba "agreed to cooperate even more closely to combat the Chinese economic aggression," the POLITICO reported. In the joint statement released by the two sides, they repeated their old tune by hyping up issues related to the East China Sea and the South China Sea, claiming the two leader's opposition to "any attempts by China to change the status quo by force or coercion in the East China Sea."

Chinese experts believed that this prioritizes the US-Japan alliance over regional security and economic stability, and also demonstrates Japan's passivity in the alliance relationship. 

On February 10, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun responded to the statement at a regular press conference: "The part of the U.S.-Japan joint statement on China constitutes open interference in China’s domestic affairs, and an attack and smear against China, which is also aimed at scare-mongering in the region. China deplores and firmly opposes this, and has lodged serious protests with the U.S. and Japan." 

Guo Jiakun indicated, "we call on the U.S. and Japan to earnestly respect China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, stop manipulating China-related issues, and take concrete actions to play a constructive role for the peace and development in the region."

(With inputs from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and Global Times)