AUKUS expansion to 'undermine peace'

China is gravely concerned about the potential expansion of the Australia-United Kingdom-United States trilateral security alliance, saying that it would severely undermine peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, the Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday.

Wu Qian, the ministry's spokesman, made the remarks at a news conference in Beijing in response to reports that Japan has expressed its intention to join AUKUS and that Canada is considering starting negotiations on joining the security alliance.

"We are open to normal military cooperation between any countries, but we firmly oppose relevant countries forming exclusive groupings, building bilateral or multilateral military alliances targeting China, creating division and stoking bloc confrontation," he said.