Japan, China urge Egyptian parties to self-restraint

Japan and China urged all relevant parties to exercise self-restraint after the removal of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi by the military. "Japan calls on all relevant parties to desist from acts of violence and behave with the greatest extent of self-restraint and responsibility," Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said in a statement issued on Friday. "At the same time, Japan expects progress on national reconciliation and sincere cooperation among all parties through democratic procedures in order to allow stability to be achieved quickly and make it possible for the Egyptian government to overcome the economic and social issues it faces," said Kishida. On Thursday, the head of the Egyptian Supreme Court Adly al-Mansour was sworn in as interim president after the military ousted Morsi. According to Kishida, his ministry has not received any information to date concerning Japanese citizens in Egypt coming to harm. Japan raised its level of travel information in Egypt from "Please take sufficient caution" to "Please consider the necessity of travel carefully" on Wednesday. "We are exerting maximum effort to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens through such activities as providing information updates and instructions that Japanese citizens present in the country exercise caution from the Embassy of Japan in Egypt as necessary," he added. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying urged concerned parties in Egypt to resolve differences through dialogue and consultation as soon as possible, according to the official Xinhua News Agency Thursday. "The Chinese Embassy in Egypt has been closely following the situation since the start of the turmoil and has started an emergency response to safeguard the safety, rights and interests of Chinese citizens and institutions there," said Hua. The spokeswoman also said she has not received any reports of casualties of Chinese citizens as of yet.