FILE - This Aug. 29, 2017 file photo distributed on Aug. 30, 2017, by the North Korean government shows what was said to be the test launch of a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile in Pyongyang, North Korea.Japan is debating whether to develop limited pre-emptive strike capability and buy cruise missiles - ideas that were anathema in the pacifist country before the North Korea missile threat. North Koreaâs test-firing of a missile on Aug. 29, 2017, which flew over Japan and landed in the northern Pacific Ocean, quickly reactivated the debate at parliament and in the media. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
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BEIJING (AP) - China says its foreign minister is advising Japan not to impose sanctions unilaterally on North Korea after it launched a test missile that flew over Japan before falling into the Pacific Ocean.
The test-firing Tuesday has intensified fear and reignited a debate in Japan about revising its defense plan after decades of pursuing more pacifist policies. A statement from China's foreign ministry on Saturday says the minister also urged his Japanese counterpart a day earlier not to consider unilateral sanctions in response.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said "unilateral sanctions are not in line with the spirit of the (U.N.) Security Council resolutions, and there is no basis in international law for them, (therefore) Japan should not make a misjudgment."
FILE - In this Oct. 23, 2016 file photo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center standing, reviews members of Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) during the Self-Defense Forces Day at Asaka Base, north of Tokyo. Japan is debating whether to develop limited pre-emptive strike capability and buy cruise missiles - ideas that were anathema in the pacifist country before the North Korea missile threat. Abe, since taking office in 2012, has expanded Japanâs military role, allowing it to take on a greater task in international peacekeeping. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
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In this Aug. 4, 2017 photo, Japan's Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, center, inspects an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo. Japan is debating whether to develop limited pre-emptive strike capability and buy cruise missiles - ideas that were anathema in the pacifist country before the North Korea missile threat. Onodera, an advocate of bolstering Japanâs missile and strike-back capability, said that more provocations by the North are likely and that Tokyo must quickly upgrade its missile arsenal. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
The Associated Press