Beijing on Thursday accused Japan of seeking to \"smear\" it after Tokyo said a Chinese frigate locked its weapons-targeting radar on a Japanese warship, as the Asian giants are locked in a maritime row. Asked to respond to Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera\'s description of the radar incident as a \"threat of force\", Beijing foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: \"Recently Japan has been hyping up crisis and deliberately creating tension to smear China\'s image.\"