(Adds details from Australian government statement)
TOKYO/SYDNEY, July 9 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe and his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison,
shared serious concerns over various moves in the East and South
China Seas in their video meeting on Thursday, a Japanese
government spokesman said.
Asked at a media briefing if the two leaders' concerns
expressed in the meeting were directed to China, Japanese Deputy
Chief Cabinet Secretary Naoki Okada declined to elaborate.
Australia too did not single out any particular country,
though the meeting comes after several incidents involving
China.
"They expressed serious concern about recent negative
developments in the South China Sea, including the continuing
militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous and coercive
use of coastguard vessels and ‘maritime militia'," an Australian
government statement read.
In April, Vietnam lodged an official protest with China
following the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat it said had
been rammed by a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel near
islands in the disputed South China Sea.
China claims most of the energy-rich South China Sea, within
a U-shaped "nine-dash line" on its maps that is not recognised
by its neighbours, several of whom have overlapping claims.
The United States has accused China of pushing its presence
in the South China Sea while other claimants are pre-occupied
with the coronavirus pandemic.