Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Thursday that current China-Japan relations are facing "serious difficulties," attributing the situation to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's erroneous remarks concerning China's Taiwan region, and said the responsibility "lies entirely with the Japanese side."

"We urge Japan's ruling authorities to face up to the root cause of the problem, retract the erroneous remarks, and create the necessary conditions for normal exchanges between China and Japan," Lin said at a press briefing.