Reuters, Washington :
Japan will step up its activity in the contested South China Sea through joint training patrols with the United States and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies, Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said on Thursday.
Inada said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, that Japan’s increased engagement in the area, where Japan shares US concerns about China’s pursuit of extensive territorial claims, would include capacity building for coastal nations.
Japan also has its own dispute with China over territory in the East China Sea.
Inada said that if the world condoned attempts to change the rule of law and allowed “rule bending” to succeed, the “consequences could become global.”
“In this context, I strongly support the US Navy’s freedom-of-navigation operations, which go a long way to upholding the rules-based international maritime order,” she said.
“Japan, for its part, will increase its engagement in the South China Sea through, for example, Maritime Self-Defense Force joint training cruises with the US Navy and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies,” she said.
Japan will step up its activity in the contested South China Sea through joint training patrols with the United States and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies, Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said on Thursday.
Inada said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, that Japan’s increased engagement in the area, where Japan shares US concerns about China’s pursuit of extensive territorial claims, would include capacity building for coastal nations.
Japan also has its own dispute with China over territory in the East China Sea.
Inada said that if the world condoned attempts to change the rule of law and allowed “rule bending” to succeed, the “consequences could become global.”
“In this context, I strongly support the US Navy’s freedom-of-navigation operations, which go a long way to upholding the rules-based international maritime order,” she said.
“Japan, for its part, will increase its engagement in the South China Sea through, for example, Maritime Self-Defense Force joint training cruises with the US Navy and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies,” she said.
