Saturday’s Yomiuri took up remarks made to the press on Friday by Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato regarding China’s description of Japan as a “vassal state” of the United States following the recent 2+2 conference. “Such a characterization is unacceptable,” said the government spokesperson, who disclosed that the GOJ lodged a protest against what he described as unprecedented derogatory rhetoric used by the Chinese. An unnamed senior Japanese diplomat said: “The use of such language perhaps represents Beijing’s frustration with the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts to build an anti-China coalition.”