Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi on Saturday expressed concern about Russian and Chinese military cooperation in Asia, and said the security situation in Europe could not be separated from that in the Indo-Pacific region since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at a meeting of European and Indo-Pacific foreign ministers in Sweden, Hayashi said Russia’s war in Ukraine had “shaken the very foundation of the international order” and must face a united response by the international community.
“Otherwise, similar challenges will arise in other regions and the existing order which has underpinned our peace and prosperity could be fundamentally overturned,” Hayashi said.
Photo: AFP
Japan firmly backs Ukraine in the war, but China says it remains neutral while declaring a “no limits” relationship with Moscow and blaming the US and NATO for provoking the conflict.
Hayashi accused Beijing of increasing its military activities around Taiwan and “continuing and intensifying its unilateral attempts” to change the “status quo” in the East and South China seas by force.
“In addition, China and Russia are strengthening their military collaboration, including joint flights of their bombers and joint naval exercises in the vicinity of Japan,” Hayahshi said.
He also said that North Korea was “escalating provocations” in the region by conducting ballistic missile launches “with a frequency and in a manner that are unprecedented.”
He joined dozens of ministers from the EU and the Indo-Pacific region for the meeting just north of the Swedish capital. China was not invited to the talks.
In other news, the Philippines has placed navigational buoys within its exclusive economic zone to assert sovereignty over the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) in the South China Sea, a Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson said yesterday.
Taiwan also lays claim to the islands, but the step comes amid China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea as Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr pursues warmer ties with the US.
The coast guard said it set up five buoys carrying the Philippine national flag from Wednesday to Friday in five areas within the zone, including the Whitsun Reef, where hundreds of Chinese maritime vessels moored in 2021.
China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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