Suga Warns China over South China Sea

Jakarta, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga effectively warned China on Wednesday against any moves that escalate tensions in the South China Sea, where the country is showing growing assertiveness. "We oppose any action to raise tensions in the South China Sea," Suga told a news conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, wrapping up his first overseas trip since he took office last month. During the Asian trip, he also visited Vietnam. "I've renewed my determination to steadily realize a free and open Indo-Pacific region while continuing to conduct summit diplomacy and working closely with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations," he said. Suga noted that the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific does not target any specific country and that Japan can collaborate with any country that shares the same views on the initiative. "We have no plans at all to create an Indo-Pacific version of NATO," Suga said, apparently mindful of China's opposition to the initiative. On moves in South Korea to cash in assets seized from a Japanese company after the South Korean Supreme Court's ruling on a wartime labor lawsuit, Suga stressed that such action "must be avoided by all means, as it would bring about an extremely serious situation in Japan-South Korea relations." On his controversial refusal to appoint six scholars recommended by the Science Council of Japan, an affiliate of the Cabinet Office, to be new members, the prime minister reiterated that the rejection was a result of consideration about whether he should follow the precedent of simply appointing nominees without screening them. The SCJ "should be an entity that is (well) understood by the people," he said, suggesting that the government plans to continue debate on the way the council should be. Regarding the government's perceived plan to release into the ocean treated radioactive water from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s <9501> disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in northeastern Japan, Suga expressed eagerness to decide as soon as possible the government's policy on the matter in a responsible way. "We can't procrastinate without deciding a course of action," he said. END