Japan opposes any actions that escalate tension in the East and South China Seas, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday as he wrapped up a trip to Vietnam and Indonesia, but he added Tokyo was not aiming at an ”Asian NATO” to contain any specific country. […]
”Japan is opposed to any actions that escalate tensions in the South China Sea. Let me stress anew the importance of all the countries concerning the South China Sea issues not resorting to force or coercion, but working toward peaceful resolutions of the disputes based on international law,” Suga told a news conference in Jakarta.
”Our response in the South China Sea is not aimed at any one country,” Suga said, when asked if Japan wanted to create an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Suga’s Southeast Asia trip follows a meeting in Tokyo this month of the “Quad”, an informal grouping of India, Australia, Japan and the United States that Washington sees as a bulwark against China’s growing regional influence.
China has denounced the grouping of the four democracies as a ”mini-NATO” aimed at containing its development. Läs artikel