Taipei [Taiwan], July 13 (ANI): Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya has expressed concern over China's military drills around Taiwan, emphasising the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, Taipei Times reported.

Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said this during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

'Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,' Iwaya said during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers' Meetings in Kuala Lumpur.

'China's large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,' the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.

According to the Taipei Times, Iwaya also expressed Japan's opposition to any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion and voiced serious concern over the situation in the South China Sea.

On Friday evening, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hsiao Kuang-wei echoed Iwaya's concerns, saying that China's repeated use of pretexts to escalate coercion and military intimidation against Taiwan posed a serious threat to peace and security across the Taiwan Strait and the surrounding region.

Such moves by China have drawn the attention of the international community, Hsiao said, adding that Japanese officials have expressed grave concern over security in the Taiwan Strait and the region to their Chinese counterparts on multiple occasions over the past few years, as per the Taipei Times.

He cited as an example the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during the APEC summit in Lima in November last year, as well as the Japan-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in Tokyo in March.

Japan's actions demonstrate its consistent stance of 'speaking out when necessary' and its firm support for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Hsiao said. (ANI)