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Japan's government pledged financial and technological support to help ASEAN countries accelerate their efforts to decarbonise their economies and combat global climate change, its industry minister said on Saturday.

Energy-poor Japan aims to turn into the world's leading hydrogen economy to reduce dependence on traditional polluting fossil fuels such as coal and oil.

As the chair of the Group of Seven nations (G7) this year, Japan will hold a ministerial meeting on climate, energy and environment in the city of Sapporo on April 15-16, ahead of the main G7 summit in Hiroshima on May 19-21, to promote what it calls realistic energy transition.

"Japan will take a lead in providing generous support in finance, technology and personal resources to help Asia's decarbonisation," Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told a ministerial meeting of the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC).

The AZEC was proposed by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last year with the aim of sharing the philosophy of promoting decarbonisation in Asian nations and cooperating to push forward energy transition.

At the first AZEC meeting on Saturday in Tokyo, which ministers from several ASEAN countries and Australia are attending, the push for collaboration will include renewable power, natural gas, hydrogen, ammonia among others, Nishimura said.

Japan will stress the importance of investment in gas, liquefied natural gas as well as hydrogen and ammonia during its presidency of the G7 this year but would keep it clean to meet 2050 carbon neutral goal, a source said this week. (Reuters)

The Philippines said on Saturday it had spotted a Chinese navy ship and dozens of militia vessels around a contested Philippine-occupied island in the South China Sea, as territorial tensions mount in the area.

The Philippine Coast Guard said 42 vessels believed to be crewed by Chinese maritime militia personnel were seen in the vicinity of Thitu island, while a Chinese navy vessel and coast guard ship were observed "slowly loitering" in the surrounding waters.

The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the assertion.

Thitu in the Spratly island chain is Manila's biggest and most strategically important outpost in the South China Sea, a body of water largely claimed by Beijing where several countries have conflicting territorial claims.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said two weeks ago the Philippines "will not lose an inch" of territory as the Southeast Asian protested China's "aggressive activities" in the sea.

Locally known as Pag-asa, Thitu lies about 300 miles (480 km) west of the western Philippine province of Palawan. Home to over 400 people, including military and law enforcement personnel, the island is used by Manila to maintain its territorial claim.

Experts say China's fishing fleet and coast guard are central to its strategic ambitions in the South China Sea, maintaining a constant presence that complicates fishing and offshore energy activities by other coastal states.

"Their continuing unauthorised presence is clearly inconsistent with the right of innocent passage and a blatant violation of the Philippines' territorial integrity," the coast guard said in a statement.

Marcos last month summoned the Chinese ambassador to complain about the intensity and frequency of China's actions in the South China Sea.

The Philippines has filed 77 complaints against China's activities in the sea, including a claim that a Chinese coast guard ship on Feb. 6 directed a "military-grade laser" at one a Philippine coast guard ship on a supply mission.

China claims sovereignty over the Spratlys, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all have competing claims for some or all of the islands. (Reuters)

North Korea on Saturday blamed the United States for what it said was the collapse of international arms control systems and said Pyongyang's nuclear weapons were a just response to ensure the balance of power in the region.

"The Korean peninsula is turning into the world's biggest powderkeg and war practice field due to a military expansion scheme led by the United States and its followers," its foreign ministry said in a commentary carried by state news agency KCNA.

Recent moves by South Korea and Japan showed that a military build-up by the United States and its followers was crossing the danger line and this could not be tolerated, it added.

The comments follow the United States and South Korea's announcement on Friday that they plan to conduct large-scale military exercises from March 13-23 to strengthen the allies' combined defensive posture, including focusing on what they called North Korean aggression.

North Korea says such joint military exercises are proof that the United States and its allies are hostile and bent on regime change in the North. (Reuters)

China's legislature will vote in the coming days on a plan to reform institutions under the State Council, or Cabinet, and decide on a new Cabinet line-up for the next five years, including a new premier, an agenda showed on Saturday.

The annual National People's Congress (NPC) will also review a series of reports including the current premier's government work report, parliament spokesman Wang Chao told a news conference.

Draft amendments to the country's Legislative Law - which governs how laws are enacted - are also on the agenda of the meeting that is due to start on Sunday.

In the latter half of the NPC, which runs until March 13, the nearly 3,000 members of the largely rubber-stamp parliament will elect and endorse a new line-up of top government officials. Xi Jinping is widely expected to secure his third five-year term as president when lawmakers vote on March 10.

He renewed calls this week for the "intensive" reorganisation of state and Communist Party entities, adding that part of the reform plan pertaining to state institutions would be presented before parliament.

Lawmakers are also due to vote on the State Council's institution reform plan on March 10.

The call for institutional reforms comes after China's economy grew 3% last year - one of its feeblest rates in nearly half a century - weakened by strict COVID-19 curbs championed by Xi that were lifted in December.

On Sunday, the government work report due to be delivered by Premier Li Keqiang at the start of parliament will unveil the official 2023 economic growth target, among many other social and economic objectives.

The gross domestic product (GDP) target could be as high as 6%, compared with a 4.5%-5.5% range proposed in November, sources told Reuters this week.

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A new premier for the next five years will be decided by parliament on March 11. A day later, it will decide on a new batch of vice premiers, state councillors, ministers as well as the governor of the People's Bank of China.

Among the amendments to China's Legislative Law set to be reviewed at the meeting is a proposal that would allow the NPC Standing Committee to pass laws in the event of an "emergency" after a single review.

The committee, which enacts and amends laws when parliament is not in session, voted in June 2020 to adopt landmark laws on national security in Hong Kong. That legislation was put to the vote after two rounds of deliberation.

Lawmakers will vote on the draft amendments to the Legislative Law on March 13. (Reuters)