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BEIJING / AP
China said on Wednesday it was committed to promoting peace and stability in Asia, even as it sent an aircraft carrier battle group through the Taiwan Strait amid heightened tensions between Beijing and the self-ruled
island.
The statement in the preface to a Cabinet report on China’s policies on Asia-Pacific security cooperation follows heated criticism from the US, Japan and others over Beijing’s increasingly robust assertions of its maritime claims, particularly in the South China Sea.
The report made no direct reference to such concerns while casting Beijing as a force for economic development and conflict reduction.
“China is committed to promoting peace and stability in this region. It follows the path of peaceful development and the mutually beneficial strategy of opening up,” the report said. “It has participated in regional cooperation in an all-round way and taken active steps in response to both traditional and non-traditional security challenges, contributing to lasting peace and common prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region,” it said.
The report reiterated China’s claims over South China Sea islands and waters, as well as territories in the East China Sea controlled by Japan. It also expressed strong opposition to the deployment by the US and South Korea of an advanced missile defense system to counter threats from North Korea, saying that would “seriously damage the regional strategic balance and the strategic security interests of China and other countries in the region.”