Japan a real threat to regional security: Chinese spokesperson

Japan has courted and catered to countries outside the region to conduct so-called joint exercises, developed and deployed intermediate- and long-range missiles, continuously beefed up military deployment in its southwestern islands, and accelerated remilitarization, becoming a real threat to regional security, Chinese defense ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said on Thursday.

Zhang made the remarks when answering a media query about a recent large-scale U.S.-Japan joint exercise that focused on island-seizure operations, which featured U.S. military deployment on a Japanese island close to Taiwan.

The Asia-Pacific is a high ground for peace and development. Those who follow the prevailing trend of peace can go far, while those who insist on stoking bloc confrontation find no support, Zhang said.

"The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair. We will never allow external forces to meddle in China's Taiwan region," he stated.

Anyone who attempts to use Taiwan to contain China and even overreach itself with military provocations will inevitably pay an unbearable price, Zhang warned.