(VOVworld) – Japan has rejected China’s response to a speech delivered by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the 13th Asian Security Summit (Shangri-La Dialogue) in Singapore.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivers a speech at the 13th Asian Security Summit in Singapore. (Photo: IISS)
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At a Monday press conference in Tokyo, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Japan regards comments from Chinese officials as untruthful and slanderous. He said the Japanese Mission in Singapore has strongly protested those comments.
Addressing the dialogue, Abe underscored the importance of international law and three principles of maritime law, which state that sovereignty should be based on international law, settling conflicts without violence through peaceful means. He called on ASEAN and China to soon reach agreement on a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel accused China of escalating tensions in the East Sea by illegally deploying oil-rig Hai Yang 981 within Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and preventing the Philippines from approaching Scarborough. Hagel said in recent months China has conducted unilateral actions provoking outrage to further its claims of sovereignty over the East Sea, adding that the US will not take sides but will oppose any violation of international law.