Ruling could help Japan project its maritime power: analysts

Tokyo

FOR Japan, the Hague tribunal's ruling that China's claims to much of the South China Sea are invalid is a source of considerable satisfaction. It implies a strong regional role for the US in upholding the Law of the Sea, at a time when Tokyo is keen on strengthening its own maritime power projection with Washington.

And for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who on Sunday secured a landslide election victory that could eventually pave the way for him to amend his country's post-war pacifist constitution, the ruling offers a justification for moving Japan ont…