India-Japan ties should not target third party: China

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Published - July 03, 2026 05:28 pm IST - Beijing Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during an informal dinner hosted for the Japanese PM, in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: PTI China said on Friday (July 3, 2026) that bilateral cooperation between countries should not target any third party or undermine the interests of another nation, a day after India and Japan unveiled a raft of landmark initiatives during Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's visit to Delhi. "Cooperation between countries should be conducive to enhancing the understanding and trust among regional countries and safeguarding peace and stability in the region," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a media briefing in Beijing. He was replying to a question on cooperation between India and Japan on critical minerals to boost resilience in the supply chains after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Japanese premier. "Such cooperation should not target any third party or harm the interests of any third party, still less be used as an excuse to patch up exclusive small groupings and stoke division and confrontation," Mr. Guo said. "It is the common responsibility of all countries to keep the global industrial and supply chains safe and stable. All parties should champion openness and cooperation and play a constructive role in the process," he added. After summit talks between Mr. Modi and Ms. Takaichi, India and Japan on Thursday (July 2) unveiled a raft of landmark initiatives, including an economic partnership framework, a defence pact to co-develop military hardware and steps to enhance energy ties to tackle oil shocks. They also expressed "serious concern" at the situation in the East China Sea and South China Sea, and opposed unilateral actions that endanger freedom of navigation as well as attempts to change the status quo by force, according to a joint statement. The Japanese Prime Minister’s visit to India was keenly watched by Beijing as relations between Japan and China have deteriorated to their lowest level in years after Ms. Takaichi’s remarks in November, 2025 that Japan could respond if China attacked Taiwan. China views Taiwan, a self-governed island, as a renegade province which should be brought into its fold by force if necessary. Her comments drew a furious response from China. China tightened exports of rare earth minerals to Japan, the U.S., India and several countries to use them as leverage to expand its trade interests. China accounts for about 70% of global rare earth mining and nearly 90% of its processing. The minerals are critical for manufacturing electronics, automobiles, wind energy, defence equipment and a host of modern gadgets. Japan / India / China / India-Japan / diplomacy Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

India-Japan ties should not target third party: China

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India-Japan ties should not target third party: China

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