Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, is a man on a mission.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, he has placed sanctions on Moscow, agreed with the Pope to pursue a nuclear-free world, and travelled to Southeast Asia and Europe on a diplomatic mission to mobilise international leaders to safeguard democracy.
But it’s not just Ukraine’s democracy that he’s attempting to safeguard — Kishida sees parallels between Russia’s efforts in Europe and China’s growth in the Indo-Pacific, which spans the Pacific Ocean from America’s west coast to the Indian Ocean.
In a joint declaration with European Union leaders in May, Kishida declared, “We strongly condemn any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force, regardless of location.”

A section in the same statement expressed “great concern over reports of militarization, coercion, and intimidation in the South China Sea,” albeit it did not name China as the aggressor.