Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe conveyed to his ASEAN counterparts at a summit in Brunei on Wednesday Japan's readiness to improve ties with China through dialogue, while at the same time checking China on its behavior in regional waters by referring to attempts to change the status quo by force.
In a bid to assuage concern about his government's purported tilt to the right, Abe also addressed moves within his government toward lifting the country's self-imposed ban on exercising the right to collective self-defense and creating a U.S.-style National Security Council, according to Japanese officials.Concern persists within the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, for which China is the most important single trading partner, over the soured ties between China and Japan that largely stem from their competing territorial claims in the East China Sea.
Abe told the ASEAN leaders that Japan is ready to advance cooperation with China given that the Sino-Japanese relationship is one of the most important for Japan. "The door to dialogue is always open," he was quoted as telling the leaders at the Japan-ASEAN summit.
But he also said he is "very concerned" about territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea involving China and some ASEAN countries, such as Vietnam and the Philippines, saying there are "moves aimed at changing the status quo by force," according to the officials.
He noted the need to resolve the disputes in accordance with international law and called on ASEAN countries to maintain unity in handling the matter, pledging Japan's continuing cooperation with the regional grouping over it as a "common problem" for both.
Source:NewsOnJapan
Abe told the ASEAN leaders that Japan is ready to advance cooperation with China given that the Sino-Japanese relationship is one of the most important for Japan. "The door to dialogue is always open," he was quoted as telling the leaders at the Japan-ASEAN summit.
But he also said he is "very concerned" about territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea involving China and some ASEAN countries, such as Vietnam and the Philippines, saying there are "moves aimed at changing the status quo by force," according to the officials.
He noted the need to resolve the disputes in accordance with international law and called on ASEAN countries to maintain unity in handling the matter, pledging Japan's continuing cooperation with the regional grouping over it as a "common problem" for both.
Source:NewsOnJapan
