Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said Wednesday during talks with his ASEAN counterparts that maintaining a rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region is important, apparently with China's growing maritime assertiveness in mind.
In pushing for Japan's vision of a "free and open" Indo-Pacific, Kishi called for a regional code of conduct in the South China Sea to be "effective, substantial and consistent with international law," his ministry said in a press release.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Beijing are crafting the code of conduct to defuse tensions in the disputed areas.