Top diplomats from US, South Korea, Japan voice concern on Taiwan Strait

Chinese warship Luyang III sails near the US destroyer USS Chung-Hoon in the Taiwan Strait. (Courtesy: Reuters file photo)

The foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and the United States expressed concern about increasingly frequent destabilising activities around Taiwan in a joint statement issued after their meeting on Monday.

The three also expressed strong opposition to "unlawful maritime claims" in the South China Sea and attempts to enforce such claims, the statement said.

The statement did not specifically mention China, but comes amid simmering tension between Beijing and Washington and its allies over the disputed South China Sea.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, overlapping the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Unresolved disputes have festered for years over ownership of various islands and features.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi met in New York and also discussed the three countries' continued commitment to ending North Korea's nuclear programme, their joint statement said.