Japan PM says Tokyo shares ASEAN concerns about challenges to maritime order

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told ASEAN leaders on Wednesday it strongly opposed challenges to a free and open maritime order, the Japanese government said.

Kishida held an online summit with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) earlier in the day.

China claims almost all the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, where it has established military outposts on artificial islands, while in the East China Sea, Beijing claims a group of Japanese-administered islets.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Sam Holmes)

FILE PHOTO: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan October 14, 2021. Eugene Hoshiko/Pool via REUTERS

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during the virtual ASEAN Japan Summit, hosted by ASEAN Summit Brunei, in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei October 27, 2021. ASEAN SUMMIT 2021 HOST PHOTO/Handout via REUTERS

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