Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Tuesday he needs a better way to travel overseas to compete with China's diplomatic clout, including the potential purchase of a dedicated airplane.

At present, the foreign minister and his staff travel on commercial flights, while the prime minister and members of the Imperial family use government aircraft for overseas trips.

Kono said that since early 2013, he and his predecessor Fumio Kishida have made only about a third of the number of overseas trips that Chinese counterpart Wang Yi made during the same period.