The Taiwan issue is China's internal affair and should by no means be deliberated in the framework of the security alliance between the United States and Japan, said Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing here Sunday.

Li made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of China's top legislature.

Li, who served as Chinese Ambassador to the United States in Washington in 1998-2001, called the US-Japan military alliance a "bilateral arrangement that occurred under special circumstances during the Cold War" and urged it to "be strictly restricted to the bilateral nature".

If it goes beyond its bilateral scope, the US-Japan alliance will definitely "arouse uneasiness on the part of Asian countries and bring complicated factors to the regional security situation",said the minister.

Source: Xinhua