China on Wednesday dismissed criticism of its top diplomat, Wang Yi, who recently made racially tinged comments in a speech at the 2023 International Forum for Trilateral Cooperation.

In his speech, Wang emphasised cooperation between China, Japan, and South Korea, while noting that some "major countries outside the region deliberately exaggerate ideological differences, weave various exclusive small circles, and try to replace cooperation with confrontation and unity with division”.

Wang’s comments were immediately met with criticism from scholars online, particularly due to his suggestion that “Americans take all visitors from China, South Korea and Japan as Asians.

They cannot tell the differences and it’s the same in Europe”. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded to this criticism, saying, “we cannot agree with it at all”. It is worth noting that the US has security alliances with both Japan and South Korea, and that China's closest allies in Northeast Asia are North Korea and Russia.

This makes Wang's comments even more striking, as they appear to be a direct reference to the US, China's chief rival. What's more, Wang's comments were reminiscent of Japan’s 20th century “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”, which was essentially a front for Japan's bid to conquer much of the continent and supplant Western influence.

This serves to highlight the historical and current differences between the countries, including China's fight against South Korea on behalf of North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War, and their ongoing resentment toward Japan over its brutal World War II invasion and occupation of much of China.

Despite this, Wang Yi has continued to promote a series of Chinese initiatives, including Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s signature “Belt and Road” cross-border infrastructure project. With the US's involvement in the region, it remains to be seen whether the three countries can join hands and prosper, as Wang has suggested.