TOKYO -- Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara on Friday called on China for "dialogue" to resolve differences, opposing unilateral change to the status quo by force.

The Indo-Pacific region is currently "at a crossroad between 'cooperation and harmony' and 'conflict and discord,'" Kihara said in a video speech at a symposium organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies of the U.S. and Nikkei in Tokyo.