China accuses Japan of 'smear attacks' in recent talks with Quad members

China has expressed strong dissatisfaction to Japan about what it called "smear attacks" against China at recent high-level meetings with the United States, India and Australia, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

A ministry statement said that Liu Jinsong, the director general of the Asian affairs department, conveyed solemn representations and serious concern at a meeting the previous day with Akira Yokochi, the deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy.

Liu pointed out that Japan's smear attacks on China are self-contradictory to its statement of promoting the strategic and reciprocal relationship between the two countries, the statement said.

Meeting in Tokyo on Sunday, Japan's foreign and defense ministers agreed to bolster military cooperation with the US at what are known as 2+2 talks with their American counterparts.

A joint statement said China's foreign policy seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others and that such behavi