Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Thursday urged Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine and encouraged other countries to "stand up" against violations of the U.N. Charter such as the acquisition of territory by force.
The U.N. Security Council meeting, chaired by Hayashi as Japan holds the rotating monthly presidency for January, focused on the importance of the rule of law, an issue also linked to China amid its growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.
Hayashi said that an order by the International Court of Justice in March for Russia to withdraw all its troops from Ukraine "must be implemented immediately," adding that the principle of the rule of law "never allows any country to rewrite borders by force or through the flexing of muscles."
He said that "by no means" can international law or the U.N. Charter be used to justify actions such as the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Japanese minister also underscored that deployment of armed personnel to territory under the peaceful administration of another nation to "create a fait accompli" cannot be justified.
Although he refrained from singling out any nation, Hayashi made the remarks in a veiled criticism against China, according to a Japanese government official, given that Chinese military ships have repeatedly entered waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
The Tokyo-controlled uninhabited islets are claimed by Beijing, which calls them Diaoyu.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the session that the world risks the "rule of lawlessness" unless global crises are addressed, including North Korea's nuclear weapons program and the war in Ukraine, among other issues.
The world body has been widely viewed as dysfunctional in addressing Moscow's war in Ukraine, due largely to the veto power of Russia and China, which hold two of the five permanent seats on the Security Council along with the United States, Britain and France.
Joan Donoghue, president of the International Court of Justice, joined the session virtually.
China has long disputed the ruling by a tribunal of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea against the validity of its "nine-dash line," a maritime region claimed by China in the South China Sea.
China's Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun told Thursday's session that "instead of resorting to third-party mechanisms," countries should try to resolve their differences through negotiation.
Russia's U.N. ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused Japan and Western countries of convening the meeting without any intention of thinking "systemically and impartially" about the rule of law.
"Our former Western partners just want to sell the narrative about the apparent responsibility of Russia for causing threats to international peace and security -- ignoring, however, their own egregious violations," Nebenzia said.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the world body, told the council that there was "no international legal basis for Russia's invasion of Ukraine."
Hayashi also said both the council's permanent and nonpermanent seats should be expanded so that nations, especially those in Africa, are included to "better reflect the realities of the current world."
Although Japan has long sought a permanent seat on the council, Hayashi did not address Japan's ambitions directly, instead identifying the enlargement of the Security Council as the "most pressing" part of the U.N. reform process.
Japan was among the five countries that started a two-year term as a nonpermanent member this month. Ecuador, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland are the other new members of the 15-party council.
