Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga confirmed Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Tokyo the maintenance of a strong Japan-U.S. alliance to promote their "free and open Indo-Pacific" vision.
This was Suga's first face-to-face diplomatic meeting since becoming prime minister.
Suga started his meeting with Pompeo at the Prime Minister's Office by showing concern for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been infected with the novel coronavirus.
Suga then asked for U.S. cooperation in promptly resolving the issue of North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals. Pompeo said that the United States would fully support Japan's efforts.
During lunch Tuesday, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi met Pompeo for about 70 minutes. They agreed that Japan and the United States would work together to resolve, in a comprehensive manner, the abduction issue and North Korea's nuclear and missile development.
Later, Suga then held talks together with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Pompeo. Japan, Australia, India and the United States make up what is known as the Quad.
At the meeting, Suga praised former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's diplomatic policy, saying: "The 'free and open Indo-Pacific' has become widely recognized in the international community as a vision for peace and prosperity in the region. My administration will continue to push ahead on this."
This was followed by the top diplomats of the Quad holding talks, confirming cooperation for the promotion of the vision in such areas as maritime security and the development of high-quality social infrastructure.
"As partners in this Quad, it is more critical now than ever that we collaborate to protect our people and partners from the CCP's exploitation, corruption and coercion," Pompeo said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. He went on to cite geographic names such as the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait as examples of places where China is becoming increasingly hegemonic.
At their dinner, the Quad agreed to hold regular meetings.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
