Japan has lodged a protest with China about freedom of speech after Beijing blocked a Japanese reporter from covering a meeting between top diplomats from the two countries. On Wednesday, the Chinese foreign ministry excluded a reporter from the Sankei Shimbun — a Japanese conservative daily critical of China — from a media pool covering the start of a meeting between China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japanese vice foreign minister Takeo Akiba. Other Japanese media covering the event in Beijing then boycotted the pool coverage in protest. “From this viewpoint, it is extremely regrettable that this kind of affair happened, and we have lodged a protest to the Chinese side,” added Suga. Akiba, who was in Beijing ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to China expected in October, also protested to his Chinese opposite number Le Yucheng, Suga said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer August 30, 2018 05:37 UTC