TOKYO (AP) – Japan’s Foreign Minister and Defense Minister expressed great concern to their British counterparts on Wednesday about a new Chinese maritime law that came into force two days earlier.
“Japan is keeping an eye out and paying close attention to its effects on us,” Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said in online conversations between the two sides. “I believe that the law should not be used in a way that violates international law.”
Japan sees China’s growing military influence and activity in the region as a security threat and has intensified defense cooperation with the United States, Australia, countries in Southeast Asia and also with Britain.
The new Chinese Coast Guard Act, which increases the likelihood of confrontations with regional rivals, empowers the force to “take all necessary measures, including the use of weapons, when national sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction are being illegally carried out. infringed by foreign organizations or individuals at sea. ”
It also authorizes the coast guard to demolish the structures of other countries built in areas claimed by China and to apprehend or order the departure of foreign vessels that illegally enter China’s territorial waters.
“We would like to share our strong concern with you” about the law, Motegi, accompanied by Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, told his British counterparts Dominic Raab and Ben Wallace, who joined them from London.
China’s coastguard is active near the disputed East China Sea islands, controlled by Japan but claimed by Beijing. China also claims practically the entire South China Sea.
The activities of the coast guard put her in frequent contact with the Japanese coast guard and the air force.
In a joint statement released after the negotiations, ministers expressed “serious concerns” about the growing tension in the regional seas and urged all parties “to exercise self-restraint and refrain from activities that could increase tensions, in particular militarization and coercion. “.
They also expressed “serious concerns” about China’s crackdown on Hong Kong opposition and “serious human rights violations perpetrated against Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang,” according to the statement.
Ministers also agreed to deepen defense and security cooperation between Japan and Britain to ensure a “free and open Indo-Pacific” vision that Japan promotes with the US, Australia and India to combat China.
Japan and Britain are jointly developing an air-to-air missile defense system and increasing the interoperability of defense equipment and technology as their troops work together more closely.
Kishi welcomed this year’s planned deployment of a British carrier strike group to East Asia as part of Britain’s growing commitment to the region.
Wallace said the visit by the attack group to Asia, led by the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, was “the most significant development of the Royal Navy in a generation”.
The British government, which is looking to boost the country’s global profile after Brexit, said the UK-Japan meeting was part of an “Indo-Pacific inclination” towards Asian allies.
Raab said the new approach “demonstrates our shared priorities and common strategic interests, from maritime security to climate change and free trade”.
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Associated Press writer Jill Lawless of London contributed to this report.
Originally published