Despite not having any territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea, Japan has been interfering in the issue. At the recently concluded G7 summit in Germany, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe raised the South China Sea issue, saying China is making forcible attempts to "change the status quo".

The other G7 leaders - from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States - have echoed Abe's concerns. Futile though it was, Abe's move has political implications.

Although not related to Japan, the South China Sea connects the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and as such is of immense geopolitical importance to Tokyo. Being largely dependent on imports for lack of natural resources, Japan has long attached great, sometimes excessive, importance to maritime security, which to some extent explains its constant interference in the South China Sea issue.