The ministry accused the allies of “smearing and attacking China over maritime issues, clinging to a cold war mentality, manipulating group politics, and stirring up confrontations”.

He added that Beijing had lodged a stern protest with Japan through diplomatic channels over the meetings and a joint statement after the talks.

Since 2010, the issue has been addressed mainly through a lower-level dialogue. This is the first time that it has been elevated to a ministerial discussion.

“Under these circumstances, the United States and Japan reiterated the need to reinforce the alliance’s deterrence posture, and manage existing and emerging strategic threats through deterrence, arms control, risk reduction, and non-proliferation,” the ministers said.

Should China be concerned about the latest Japan-Philippines security pact?

But Lin said this kind of cooperation under Washington’s nuclear umbrella was “a relic of the cold war” and would only escalate regional tension and increase the risk of nuclear proliferation.

“China urged the US and Japan to abandon cold war thinking, and genuinely reduce the role of nuclear weapons in their national and collective security policies,” he said.

Lin also defended Beijing’s nuclear development, saying its nuclear capacity remained “at the minimum level needed for national security”.

“As long as no country uses or threatens to use nuclear weapons against China, they won’t face a threat from China’s nuclear weapons,” he said.

Lin also urged Tokyo, the only country to have been attacked with an atomic bomb, to “critically reassess its strategic security policies” and adhere to its three non-nuclear principles of never possessing, producing, or permitting atomic weapons on its territory.

Japanese newspaper Yomiuri reported that Washington and Tokyo intend to compile their first joint document on extended deterrence within the year.

The document would include Washington’s commitment to use its nuclear weapons and other abilities to bolster deterrence around Japan, as well as outline the conditions that would prompt US retaliation in defence of Japan, the report said.