Japan, Asean summit to advance ‘security cooperation’ amid growing South China Sea tension

Tokyo added that it “concurs with the Philippines’ long-standing objections to unlawful maritime claims, militarisation, coercive activities and threat or use of force in the South China Sea”.

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Japan will also supply rescue boats to Malaysia’s military, with China’s growing maritime assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific in focus.

The provision would be carried out under Tokyo’s new framework for like-minded countries that share fundamental values, called official security assistance or OSA. Malaysia is the third nation, after the Philippines and Bangladesh, to engage with Japan on the programme, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Kishida and Anwar reached the agreement during talks in Tokyo on the sidelines of three-day events for the summit.

Asked about the Asean summit, China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that Beijing “believed that any cooperation should be conducive to advancing mutual trust among regional countries and promoting common development”.

“We hope that relevant countries can truly do things conducive to regional peace and stability. At the same time, any cooperation should not target third parties,” spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

Japan is also expected to use the summit to push energy cooperation, with a meeting of its Asian Zero Emission Community initiative scheduled for Monday that will be attended virtually by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, officials said.

Japan has also been seeking to push the export of tech aimed at reducing emissions by coal plants, such as co-firing with ammonia and carbon capture. But critics say these methods are unproven and expensive.

“This push to lock in fossil fuel-based energy across the continent is delaying the transition from fossil fuels to renewables,” the Climate Action Network said this month.

Ammonia “fails to meaningfully reduce emissions, jeopardises the decarbonisation of Japan’s energy and any possibility of phasing out fossil fuels”, it said.

While Myanmar is a member, the leaders of its junta have been banned from the bloc’s high-level meetings since failing to implement an agreed five-point peace plan following the 2021 coup in which they took power.