HONG KONG – For a country that believes strongly in noninterference in other countries’ internal affairs, China, oddly, is constantly telling other countries what they can and cannot talk about.

Last week, China again was putting on the pressure, this time on Japan, host of the Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting last Sunday and Monday in Hiroshima, as well as on the other participant countries, not to discuss South China Sea issues.

In March, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi publicly accused Japan of “double dealing,” saying Tokyo on one hand proclaims “nice things about wanting to improve relations,” but on the other hand “they are making trouble for China at every turn.” Clearly, talking about the South China Sea comes under the heading of “making trouble,” and Wang didn’t want Japan to put this issue on the agenda.

Wang continued his lobbying until the eve of the G-7 meeting, warning British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond that the foreign ministers should not play up the South China Sea issue and telling his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, that discussing territorial issues would affect regional stability.

But the United States made it clear that South China Sea issues would be discussed. A State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, said that “any time we get together with our key partners we should be able to talk about the full range of issues,” the South China Sea is important, and “I would suggest that those topics should be on the table.”

What China wants is for other countries to stop talking about its island-building and militarization in the South China Sea. But if that cannot be entirely stopped, Beijing wants discussion kept to a low level and, preferably, not mentioned in any subsequent communique.

Thus, Xinhua, the state news agency, in a commentary accused Japan of planning “to place the South China Sea at the top of the agenda” at the G-7 meeting. Such a “provocation,” Xinhua said, would shift the focus of the meeting from more deserving concerns.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/04/15/commentary/japan-commentary/japan-south-china-sea/#.VxQ7zTB97De