China cancels Japan military visit

BEIJING — China said Wednesday it has cancelled a high-level military trip to Japan, as the two neighbors bicker over a disputed island chain and a recent Uighur symposium in Tokyo that angered Beijing.

Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission and China’s highest ranking military officer, will not visit Japan due to “work commitments” at home, the defense ministry said in a statement.

The cancellation comes after China condemned Japan for allowing the World Uyghur Congress to hold a meeting in Tokyo last week.

Uighurs are a Muslim ethnic minority who mainly live in western China’s Xinjiang region and have long chafed under Beijing’s rule. — AFP