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ndonesia has reissued its call for all countries to maintain the rule of law in settling international disputes, including maritime territorial spats in the South China Sea (SCS).

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo took the opportunity at the G7 summit in Japan to remind all major powers that Indonesia would not allow Asia to become a hotbed of conflict or for battles of power between big nations.

“Indonesia would like to emphasize that all counties, I repeat, all countries, should honor the international rule of law without exception,” he said during the summit of seven industrial powers.

He said that peace and stability in the region would spur the regional economy and eventually help improve the global economy.

Jokowi warned that a military approach to conflict would only exacerbate tension and spark partisanship.

Indonesia is not embroiled with China over rival claims in the SCS and has instead seen itself as an “honest broker” in disputes between China and Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

Japan, also a non-claimant in the SCS dispute, invited Indonesia and Vietnam into Friday’s “G7 outreach meeting” in the coastal area of Ise-Shima.

The G7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.

During the summit, G7 countries expressed concern over the SCS, where China has been taking more assertive action amid territorial disputes with several Southeast Asian nations, Reuters reported.

Without mentioning Beijing, the G7 reiterated its commitment to the peaceful settlement of maritime disputes and to respecting the freedoms of navigation and overflight.

The group called for countries to refrain from “unilateral actions which could increase tensions” and to instead “settle disputes by peaceful means”.

At the close of their formal session, G7 leaders fired a shot across China’s bow over its behavior in the region.

“We are concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas, and emphasise the fundamental importance of peaceful management and settlement of disputes,” the summit-ending statement said as quoted by AFP.

Beijing is also locked in a dispute with G7 host Japan over rocky outcroppings in the East China Sea, stoking broader concerns about Beijing’s growing regional might and threats to back up its claims with force, if necessary.

China, for its part, is engaged in a furious diplomatic charm offensive with developing countries, offering aid and trade in what critics see as a naked bid to rally international support to its cause.

China was not, meanwhile, pleased with the G7’s stance.

“This G7 summit organized by Japan’s hyping up of the South China Sea issue and exaggeration of tensions is not beneficial to stability in the South China Sea and does not accord with the G7’s position as a platform for managing the economies of developed nations,” China Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing as quoted by Reuters.

“China is extremely dissatisfied with what Japan and the G7 have done.”

Aside from regional security issues, the G7 also pledged to seek strong global growth, while papering over differences on currencies and stimulus policies.

“Global growth remains moderate and below potential, while risks of weak growth persist,” they said in a declaration. “Global growth is our urgent priority.”

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, talking up what he called parallels to the global financial crisis that followed the 2008 Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, said the G7 “shares a strong sense of crisis” about the global outlook.

“The most worrisome risk is a contraction of the global economy” led by a slowdown in emerging economies, Abe told a news conference after chairing the two-day summit.

“There is a risk of the global economy falling into crisis if appropriate policy responses are not made.”

In the broad-ranging, 32-page declaration, the G7 committed to market-based exchange rates and to avoiding “competitive devaluation” of their currencies, while warning against wild exchange-rate moves.

This represents a compromise between the positions of Japan, which has threatened to intervene to block sharp yen rises, and the US, which generally opposes market intervention.

The G7 vowed for “a more forceful and balanced policy mix” to “achieve a strong, sustainable and balanced growth pattern”, taking each country’s circumstances into account, while continuing efforts to put public debt on a sustainable path, Reuters reported.

Abe has stressed the need for flexible fiscal policy to sustain economic recovery, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been sceptical about public spending to boost growth.