Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will try and convince Group of Seven leaders at the summit in Mie Prefecture later this month to form a united front in countering China’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea, sources have said.

“The point is whether the G-7 can reach a consensus (on the issue) and how many members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will follow in the G-7’s footsteps,” a Japanese government official said Saturday.

In a statement on maritime security issued after a meeting in the city of Hiroshima last month, G-7 foreign ministers called on “all states to pursue the peaceful management and settlement of maritime disputes … in accordance with international law” and to “fully implement any decisions rendered by relevant courts and tribunals.”

The Japanese government believes that a ruling likely to come in the next few weeks from the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague is likely to reject the legitimacy of Beijing’s claims to most of the South China Sea, sources said.

The arbitration case pits the Philippines versus China in its dispute over the waters.

At the G-7 summit scheduled for May 26 to 27 in Mie Prefecture, Abe hopes to reaffirm with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States the importance of complying with court decisions based on international law, the sources said.

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