11 10 2024

“Prime Minister Ishiba reiterated Japan’s serious concerns about the situation in the East China Sea, including… the intensification of Chinese military activities in areas surrounding Japan,” Japan’s foreign ministry said after Thursday’s meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Laos.

In particular, Ishiba said he wanted “a full explanation of the intrusion into Japan’s territorial airspace” by a Chinese military aircraft in August.

Ishiba, on his first official trip abroad since taking office last week, also highlighted the passage of China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier between two Japanese islands near Taiwan for the first time last month.

Soon afterwards, a Japanese warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time, drawing an angry response from Beijing.

Ishiba, 67, also urged China to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals after the fatal stabbing of a Japanese schoolboy in Shenzhen last month and other recent incidents.

He also “expressed Japan’s serious concerns about the situations in the South China Sea, Hong Kong, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and others”, and stressed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.