Japan slammed China's bid to reclaim land in the South China Sea as a "coercive attempt" to force sweeping maritime claims, in a defense paper coinciding with Tokyo's bid for legislation to expand the Japanese military role. The 429-page report, or "white paper," approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, for the first time includes satellites images of Chinese man-made islands in the South China Sea. China claims most of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer (1.35-million-square-mile) South China Sea, with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also staking claims.

Japan slams China reclamations in disputed sea. (2015, July 22). Philippine Daily Inquirer, pp. A1, A4.