China warns US, Japan to keep Taiwan out of military pact

Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said Beijing sought better ties with both Washington and Tokyo -- China's two largest trading partners -- but he warned increasing US-Japan military cooperation should be strictly bilateral and not encompass Beijing's arch-rival Taiwan.

"Any part of putting Taiwan directly or indirectly into the scope of Japan-US security cooperation constitutes an encroachment on China's sovereignty and interference in China's internal affairs," Li said.

"The Chinese government and people are firmly against such activities."

During a wide-ranging press conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress, Li characterized the military alliance between Japan and the United States as a "bilateral arrangement" that came about during the Cold War.

Any expansion of such a relationship, Li warned, could cause problems in the region.

"If it goes beyond the bilateral scope, definitely it would arouse uneasiness on the part of Asian countries and bring about complicated factors to the regional security situation," Li said.

Beijing has been increasingly wary of Washington and Tokyo's close strategic partnership, seeing it as a potential obstacle to its firm goal of eventually reunifying with the island of Taiwan, by force if necessary.