BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Despite Beijing's repeated call that outsider countries play a constructive role on the South China Sea issue, Tokyo seems to have stepped up its meddling moves, at the cost of regional stability and without giving any thought to its relations with China.
In the latest of Japan's series of maneuvers to seek greater influence over the issue, Koro Bessho, Japanese ambassador to the United Nations, said on the first day Japan took over the monthly rotating presidency of the UN Security Council that he would put the issue on the agenda of the 15-member council if there is a request from its members, or other UN members.
Considering Japan's recent records in hijacking meetings and forums to highlight its "deep concern" over the South China Sea, Bessho's remarks on July 1 could easily be an invitation for voices against China, at a time when an arbitration case unilaterally initiative by the Philippines against China is capturing news headlines.
Bessho's remarks also marked the second of such practices by a prominent Japanese politician within a week, after Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama said earlier that he was "closely watching" how a UN tribunal rules in the arbitration case.
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