China urges Japan, Philippines to stop ganging up for confrontations

China's Ministry of National Defense on Saturday urged relevant countries to stop forming exclusive cliques and creating camp confrontation.

Jiang Bin, a spokesman for the ministry, made the remarks at a press conference in response to a query on media reports that Japanese and Philippine defense officials issued a joint statement opposing "any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion in the East China Sea and the South China Sea."

The two sides also agreed to enhance defense cooperation in areas such as equipment technology and information sharing, according to the joint statement.

Japan also fully participated in the joint military exercise "Balikatan" between the U.S. and the Philippines, which ran from April 20 to May 8.

On Wednesday, it fired Type 88 missiles in the joint military exercise, the first time Japan launched offensive missiles overseas after World War II. "Certain politicians in Japan and the Philippines have been hyping up false narratives on maritime issues and making groundless accusations against China. We strongly deplore and firmly oppose it. Relevant parties have ignored the regional countries' common aspiration for peace and development, disregarded their own people's opposition, and strengthened military collusion for selfish interests, which have escalated tensions in the region. Japan dispatched troops to participate in joint military exercises, and launched offensive missiles overseas for the first time [after WWII], deliberately breaching its exclusively defense-oriented policy. The Philippines is attempting to gang up with external forces to back its infringing actions and even seeks to shift blame onto China. This is a completely miscalculated move," said Jiang.

"The Chinese army is unwavering in its resolve to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. We urge relevant countries to stop forming exclusive cliques and stoking camp confrontation, and do more that truly contributes to regional peace and stability," he said.

China urges Japan, Philippines to stop ganging up for confrontations

Spanish health authorities on Friday identified a second monitored contact linked to the hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship MV Hondius after tracing a woman living in Catalonia who had shared a flight with a Dutch traveler died from the virus.

Spain's Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies said the woman is asymptomatic and was initially missed during contact tracing because of a seat change on the aircraft.

According to health authorities, the woman now meets the criteria for monitored contact under a newly approved national surveillance protocol and will remain under medical observation.

This came after the suspected case of hantavirus detected in Alicante. Spanish Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla said on Friday that the health authorities had taken relevant measures.

In addition, Padilla confirmed that all 14 Spanish passengers aboard the MV Hondius had agreed to undergo voluntary quarantine measures in order to minimize the risk of further transmission.

The Dutch-operated expedition cruise ship, currently heading toward Spain's Canary Islands, has so far been linked to three deaths.

Padilla said a team from the Spanish Health Ministry would travel to Tenerife on Saturday ahead of the ship's expected arrival on Sunday.

Passengers are expected to disembark by small boats before being transferred under strict isolation measures. Spanish citizens aboard the vessel will be transported to Madrid for quarantine observation.

The British Health Security Agency announced Friday that a suspected hantavirus case has been detected on the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, linked to the ongoing outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.

The vessel stopped at Tristan da Cunha between April 13 and 15.

Spain identifies second suspected hantavirus case linked to cruise ship outbreak