Japan PM pushes closer Southeast Asia ties in China counter

JAKARTA, : Japan's new Prime Minister pledged on Wednesday to help Southeast Asian nations increase their maritime security capabilities, as he used his first overseas trip as leader to push his country's vision for greater international cooperation to counter China's influence in the region. Prime Minister , speaking in the Indonesian capital, also took a thinly veiled dig at China's activities in the disputed South China Sea, where it has built and militarized manmade islands and is pressing its claim to virtually all of the sea's key fisheries and waterways. A number of...