China has no intention of replacing Japan as Washington's principal Asian ally, a Chinese expert on foreign policy said Friday in Tokyo.
Although some experts have predicted the U.S. may be inclined to favor China and its expanding economy over ties with Japan, Victor Gao, a director for Beijing-based think tank China National Association of International Studies, said that will not be the case.
"China is a friend of the U.S., but we are not in a strategic alliance. There is no major military cooperation, whereas Japan operates almost in sync with the U.S.," Gao told The Japan Times.