Japan's Hayashi Takes Up Balloon Issue in Talks with China's Wang

Munich, Feb. 18 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi informed top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on Saturday of Tokyo's position over suspected Chinese spy balloons.

Balloons from any country entering the airspace of other nation without permission would be deemed to have violated the airspace, Hayashi told Wang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee, at a meeting in the southern German city of Munich.

The Japanese government recently announced its position that flying objects spotted over Japan between 2019 and 2021 are strongly assumed to be unmanned spy balloons from China.

Japan-China relations continue to face a host of issues, Hayashi said, expressing concern about the situation regarding the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and China's growing military activities, including through collaboration with Russia. Hayashi also showed Japan's stance of laying weight on the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The Senkaku Islands, which are known as Diaoyu in China, have been claimed by Beijing.

Over Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, Hayashi urged China to act as a responsible power.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]