JAPAN, U.S. DEFENSE CHIEFS TO ENHANCE TIES VS CHINA’S ASSERTIVENESS

Japan's Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi and his newly appointed US counterpart Lloyd Austin agreed to enhance their countries' alliance amid China's growing maritime assertiveness.

"We agreed to oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the South and East China seas," Kishi told reporters after the two held phone talks, Kyodo News reported.

The defense chiefs also agreed to work toward the goal of getting North Korea to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles in a "complete, verifiable and irreversible manner," he said.

Kyodo said the Austin-Kishi conversation comes as Japan shattered China’s controversial claim of sovereignty over submerged maritime features in the South China Sea (SCS) based on the 1947 Kuomintang-drawn 10-dash line to describe segments of the SCS where China may exploit marine and mineral resources.

Japan said in a note verbale to the United Nations (UN) that apart from not having any historical document to back up its claim and the absence of map that confirms its control over such features, China only invokes a false theory that underwater features can have their own territorial waters, contrary to logic and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which China had ratified.

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