G-7 to express 'strong opposition' to militarization of S. China Sea

TOKYO (PNA/Kyodo) — The Group of Seven (G-7) leaders meeting in Japan this week will express "strong opposition" to island construction and militarization of outposts in the South China Sea in a veiled criticism of Beijing's actions to assert its claims to disputed islands and atolls, G-7 sources said Monday.

The leaders, without singling out China, will dismiss "unilateral actions that could alter the status quo" in a declaration they will issue after a twoday summit starting Thursday in Mie Prefecture, central Japan, the sources said.

While Japan and the United States are alarmed by China's military buildup and muscle-flexing in pressing territorial claims in the South and East China seas, European countries have focused more on boosting economic relations with Beijing, making it difficult for them to openly criticize the world's secondlargest economy.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is anxious to show a unified response with his G-7 peers to China's attempts to force a shift in the status quo in the South China Sea, where Beijing is engaged in territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

The Ise-Shima summit will bring together the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States plus the European Union.

The leaders will express opposition to "intimidation, coercion or use of force" in asserting territorial claims, and call for peaceful management and settlement of maritime disputes in accordance with international law, in a language apparently targeting China, according to the sources.

Observers will closely watch how the Chinese leadership under President Xi Jinping responds to references to maritime security in the G-7 leaders' declaration.

China has rejected US, Japanese and other third-party intervention in its South China Sea territorial disputes and repeated its preference to negotiate bilaterally with other claimants, apparently in an attempt to overwhelm them with its economic might.

Japan is not a claimant in the South China Sea, but is embroiled in a row with Beijing over a group of islets in the East China Sea.

At the summit, the G-7 leaders will "express concern" about tensions in the East China Sea, in an apparent reference to repeated intrusions by Chinese government ships into Japanese waters around the Senkaku Islands in an attempt to undermine Japanese control of the islands.