China accuses Japan of ‘smear attacks’ in recent talks with the US, India and Australia

BEIJING (AP) — China has expressed strong dissatisfaction to Japan about what it called “smear attacks” against China at recent high-level meetings with the United States, India and Australia. A Foreign Ministry statement said Wednesday that Liu Jinsong, the director general of the Asian affairs department, conveyed solemn representations and serious concern at a meeting the previous day with Akira Yokochi, the deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy. Japan’s foreign and defense ministers along with their American counterparts issued a a joint statement on Sunday saying that China’s foreign policy “seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others.”