China slams US-Japan-South Korea summit, warns of 'increasing tensions'

China is renewing its criticism of this weekend’s summit at the rustic Camp David presidential retreat among the leaders of the US, Japan and South Korea, saying no country should "seek its own security at the expense of the security interests of others and of regional peace and stability".

"The international community has its own judgment as to who is creating contradictions and increasing tensions," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters at a daily briefing on Friday.

"Attempts to form various exclusive groups and cliques and to bring bloc confrontation into the Asia-Pacific region are unpopular and will definitely spark vigilance and opposition in the countries of the region," Wang said.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan sought to push back on criticism from China that the US is seeking to develop a new Asia-Pacific NATO alliance, saying the partnership that is being strengthened "is not against anyone, it is for something. It is for a vision of the Indo Pacific that is free, open, secure and prosperous".

President Joe Biden is looking to use the summit to urge South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to firmly turn the page on their countries’ difficult shared history.

The Japan-South Korea relationship is a delicate one because of differing views of World War II history and Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula. Past efforts to tighten security cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo have progressed by fits and starts.

Likely summit outcomes

Expected major announcements include plans to expand military cooperation on ballistic missile defences and make the summit an annual event.

In the face of deteriorating ties with Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, China has grown closer to Russia, with whom it declared a "no-limits" partnership just prior to President Vladimir Putin's full-on invasion of Ukraine last year.

Japan’s Defense Ministry on Friday said it scrambled fighter jets after spotting two Russian IL-38 reconnaissance aircraft flying back and forth over the Tsushima Strait in southwestern Japan.

The fleet comprised six Chinese and five Russian warships, many of which had taken part in what they called a joint patrol in July when they sailed through the Soya Strait between the northern main island of Hokkaido and Sakhalin, the Japanese Defense Ministry said Thursday.

The ministry views the repeated joint military activities by the two countries around Japan as aimed at demonstrating their combined threat against Japan, and expressed concern to both China and Russia, Kyodo News reported.

Asked about the activities, Wang said, “It conforms to international law and international practice for the Chinese and Russian vessels to conduct normal patrols".

China has also sought stronger relations with developing nations in Africa and Central and South America and President Xi Jinping will be attending next week's summit in Johannesburg of the BRICS bloc linking Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.