Zhao Lijian Photo: VCG

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Monday took an aim at Japan's "selective memory loss" of US economic coercion against the country in 1980s and "blind obedience" to the US, urging Japan and the US to stop targeting and hurting other countries' interests. 

The comments came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a US-Japan "Economic 2+2" forum that the two allies believed that China's coercive economic policies were contrary to an open, inclusive, rules-based international economic system, according to media reports.

Commenting on the remarks at a regular press conference on Monday, Zhao said that in contrast to the US, China is committed to openness and mutual benefit and has never engage in trade wars, or suppress companies from other countries.

In contrast, the US has done everything it can to impose economic sanctions and technological blockades and suppress foreign companies to maintain its economic hegemony, which is not only against the laws of the market, but also the rules of international trade, Zhao said.

Most recently, the US has been pressuring Japan to join its various platforms for supply chain "security." The US and Japan held the "Economic 2+2" forum on Friday, which expanded the two allies' strategic coordination on economic issues with an eye to diversify supply chains from and intensify high-tech competition with China.

Ironically, Japan itself is a victim of economic coercion by the US, Zhao said.

Since the 1980s, the US has repeatedly imposed economic sanctions on Japan, suppressed Japan's competitive industries by any means possible, and even promoted major structural change in the Japanese economy. 

"What is puzzling is why the Japanese side has chosen selective memory loss and even blind obedience," Zhao said, calling on the two countries to stop politicizing trade.  

"We urge the US and Japan to stop targeting or harming the interests of a third party, by politicizing and weaponizing trade and technology issues or excessively using security concerns as an excuse," Zhao said. 

Global Times