Japanese Foreign News

The operator of a Japanese bulk carrier which ran aground off Mauritius in the Indian Ocean apologized on Sunday for a major oil spill which officials and environmentalists say is creating an ecological disaster.The MV Wakashio, operated by Mitsui OSK Lines, struck the reef on Mauritius' southeast coast on July 25. Fuel started leaking from the cracked vessel on Thursday."We apologize profusely and deeply for the great trouble we have caused," Akihiko Ono, executive vice president…

Japan and China agree that a trade war will have serious consequences for the world economy, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said on Monday after a high-level economic dialogue between the world's third- and second-largest economies. Concern is growing about a trade row between China and the United States in which the two nations have threatened each other with tariffs. Japan has been criticised by U.S. President Donald Trump on trade and been hit with tariffs on steel and aluminum, but it has not yet threatened counter-tariffs.

Maldives on Wednesday denied a Japanese foreign ministry statement that said a Maldives-flagged vessel was used to illegally transfer goods from a North Korean-flagged tanker in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The Japanese statement said the "Chon Ma San", designated by the United States as a sanctions target, was spotted by a surveillance plane with the Maldivian-flagged tanker "Xin Yuan 18" some 250 km (160 miles) east of Shanghai on Saturday. It said "Japan strongly suspects that the vessels conducted ship-to-ship transfers" banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono has visited the port of Colombo in Sri Lanka. Kono was briefed by Sri Lankan government officials about a project under consideration to expand the port. The Japanese Foreign Minister  also visited the newly built control tower and the Colombo Port Expansion Project currently known as the Colombo south Port. Colombo is the largest port in Sri Lanka, which is a strategically important point in Indian Ocean sea lanes. Taro Kono was briefed by the Chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake about the project, the consideration to expand the facility and the ‘Three Year Plan’ that has currently been initiated to develop the Port of Colombo. The Japanese government has been involved in building port facilities there for many years.

The Japanese government said on Wednesday it is ready to provide Vietnam with new patrol ships, in its latest step to boost the maritime law-enforcement capabilities of countries locked in territorial rows with China. On Tuesday, Japan agreed to provide two large patrol ships and lend up to five used surveillance aircraft to the Philippines, another country at odds with China over sovereignty issues in the South China Sea. Japan itself has been at loggerheads with China over a group of tiny, uninhabited East China Sea islets. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, of Tokyo's intention in their meeting on the sidelines of ASEAN-related meetings in Vientiane.

China is working with Japan and South Korea to arrange foreign minister talks next week, pairing a hard-line stance on maritime issues with a greater willingness for dialogue, says a report in SCMP. The Tokyo Shimbun daily said the three countries were making arrangements for the meeting to be held on Aug. 23 and 24 in Tokyo to lay the groundwork for a three-way summit that Tokyo is set to host this year. According to Reuters, last month, a senior Japanese foreign ministry official said Japan was considering holding the meeting in late August, but the flare-up in Sino-Japanese tension had fueled concern it was difficult to have such a meeting now.

Japan and the Philippines have begun talks for the transfer of two large coast guard ships to Manila, to help patrol the disputed South China Sea, a Japanese foreign ministry official said on Friday, as part of a deal on defence equipment. The two brand-new 90-metre (295-ft) multi-role response vessels will be in addition to ten 44-metre (144-ft) mid-sized coast guard ships, worth 8.8 billion pesos ($188.52 million), that Japan is set to start delivering next week. "Both governments are looking into the possibility of getting two more vessels, this time the bigger ones," Masato Ohtaka, deputy spokesman of Japan's foreign ministry, told journalists in Manila.

Japan summons China envoy twice in five days; rising number of Chinese ships sailing near disputed islands. Japan warned China on Tuesday that ties were deteriorating over disputed East China Sea islets, and China's envoy in Tokyo reiterated Beijing's stance that the specks of land were its territory and called for talks to resolve the dispute. The diplomatic tussle comes amid simmering tension as China builds on outposts in the contested South China Sea, including what appear to be reinforced aircraft hangars, according to new satellite images. Ties between Asia's two largest economies have been strained in recent days since Japan saw a growing number of Chinese coastguard and other government ships sailing near the East China Sea islets, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

Japan protested to China on Friday after Chinese coastguard ships and fishing vessels entered what Tokyo considers its territorial waters around a group of disputed islets, the Japanese foreign ministry said. Beijing claims the uninhabited, Tokyo-controlled East China Sea islands, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, and occasionally sends its coastguard vessels near them. But this is the first time Chinese coastguard ships and fishing vessels have sailed together in the area, in what appeared to be increased assertion of jurisdiction over the islets, a foreign ministry official said. Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama summoned China's ambassador to Japan, Cheng Yonghua, to lodge a strong protest, the ministry said.

Japan has lodged a protest with the Chinese ambassador in Tokyo, after a Chinese ship sailed close to contested islands in the East China Sea. Chinese navy has made an unprecedented entry into waters around the disputed Senkaku Islands, called Diaoyu in China. Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki responded swiftly, summoning the Chinese ambassador to Tokyo Cheng Yonghua to register a formal protest. Japan's top government spokesman expressed "serious concern" about the entry of a Chinese naval ship, saying it would escalate tension unilaterally. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told his government to closely coordinate with the United States and other countries to deal with the incident.

Vietnam has asked Japan to provide vessels to strengthen its coastguard, a Japanese official said on Thursday, in the latest sign of growing ties among the states locked in maritime rows with China. The request emerged during talks between visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, a Japanese spokesman said. "Vietnam wants new vessels," Masato Otaka told reporters, adding that timing, methods of delivery, costs and quantity of vessels had not yet been decided. Vietnam has been modernising its military, and recently bought six advanced Kilo-class submarines from Russia. Russia and India are the main source of advanced weapons, training and intelligence cooperation.

Japan has urged Australia to award a contract to build its new $50-billion submarine fleet, reports SMH. Japan, which is offering a variant of its 4,000 ton Soryu submarine, is competing against rival bids from Germany and France for the contract. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida has delivered a blunt message to Canberra that only its bid to build Australia's new $50 billion submarine fleet can provide the crucial "strategic" element. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) chief executive Shunichi Miyanaga, the bid leader has warned of the “risk” in retro-fitting a nuclear submarine with a diesel engine as proposed by the French bid, and that scaling up a smaller design would create technical “challenges”, says a report in the Australian.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida warned against China's increasing maritime activities, such as artificial land construction in the South China Sea, reports Nikkei. Referring to tensions over China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea, Fumio said that Japan will step up efforts to ensure the rule of law for "open and stable seas." He pledged to work for a further improvement of ties with Beijing. "A number of countries have expressed grave concerns about unilateral actions that change the status quo and escalate tensions," Kishida said in a foreign policy address. "Any unilateral attempts, such as land reclamation, to create an accomplished fact cannot be accepted," Kishida said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Vietnamese Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan agreed to continue bilateral efforts to ensure maritime security, underlining the importance of respecting the rule of law. Kishida and Doan also discussed matters related to the South China Sea, the ministry said. The sea is the focus of lingering tensions over territorial rows between China and Southeast Asian countries, notably Vietnam and the Philippines. Kishida was quoted as saying Japan wants to increase cooperation with Vietnam over wide-ranging issues such as maritime security. Japan will help train maritime lecturers for Vietnam under an agreement signed in Hanoi between the Vietnam Maritime Administration and the Seamen’s Employment Center of Japan (SECOJ).

Following objections from the Japanese government, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy announced they will continue searching through Friday for nine people missing from a Japanese fishing vessel sunk by a U.S. submarine last week. The Japanese government objected when the Coast Guard announced on Wednesday it intended to end the search for the missing students, teachers and crew members from the teaching vessel, said Japanese Consul General Minoru Shibuya. Earlier on Thursday, the Coast Guard said it intended to call off the search for survivors from the wreck, which occurred when the USS Greenville surfaced into the Ehime Maru, a high school's training trawler, about nine miles off the coast of Oahu. The vessel carried 35 people; 26 were rescued.

Japanese shipyards received foreign orders for 38 vessels totaling 1,350,650 grt in September, up 175 percent from a year before, the Japan Ship Exporters' Association said last week. A breakdown of September showed 35 orders were for bulk carriers, and three orders for oil tankers, it said. In August, foreign ship orders totaled 1,063,280 grt, up 110.3 percent year on year. The statistics account for orders association members received for steel vessels of 500 grt or more.

Japanese shipyards in June received foreign ship orders for 20 vessels, or 667,500 grt, down 24.4 percent from a year earlier, the Japan Ship Exporters' Association said. All of June's orders were bulk carriers. The most recent figure represented an increase of 17.8 percent compared to June 1997, it said. Last month, May orders marked a year-on-year increase of 371.8 percent.

Japanese shipyards received foreign orders for 21 vessels totaling 581,100 grt in July, down 39.6 percent from a year before, the Japan Ship Exporters' Association reported. Nineteen orders were for bulk carriers and two for freighters, it said. The statistics include orders association members received for steel vessels of 500 grt or more.

Japanese shipyards in May received foreign ship orders for 16 vessels, or 669,000 grt, up 371.8 percent from May 1998, the Japan Ship Exporters' Association said. The level, however, was down 43.9 percent from May 1997, it said. Orders in May consisted of nine bulk carriers and seven oil tankers. In April, foreign ship orders fell 40.1 percent year-on-year.

Japanese shipyards received foreign orders for 21 vessels totaling 581,100 GRT in July, down 39.6 percent from a year before, the Japan Ship Exporters' Association said. In all, 19 orders were for bulk carriers and two for freighters.

Japanese shipyards received foreign orders for 23 vessels totaling 687,650 grt in November, down 28.9 percent from a year before, the Japan Ship Exporters' Association said. Of the 23 ships ordered, 18 bulk carriers, three are oil tankers, one is a freighters and one is classifed as "other."

Japanese shipyards received in October foreign orders for 44 vessels totaling 1,583,880 gt, the Japan Ship Exporters' Association reported. The tonnage jumped 728.4 percent compared to orders received a year earlier, a spokesperson said. Thirty-five orders were for bulk carriers, seven for freighters and two for oil tankers. The statistics cover orders received by association members for steel vessels of 500 gt or more. In September, foreign ship orders rose 175 percent year on year.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso and Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo signed agreements on two Japanese grant-aid projects Tuesday. The grant, worth $12.5m U in total, will help the Philippines in disaster prevention and management as well as maritime safety and security. According to the agreements, Japan will extend $7.2m for the improvement of flood forcasting and warning system in the Pampanga and Agno River Basins in the Philippines. The grant is expected to substantially improve information accuracy and provide technical support for improving the system operation for flood forecasting and disaster prevention. The second project…