Japan Stands by Partnership With US Ahead of Trilateral Talks
Udumbara
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The upcoming South Korea-Japan-China foreign ministers’ meeting is slated to take place on March 22 in Tokyo.
A March 21 South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs update reported that Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba reaffirmed his country’s commitment to its strategic partnership with the United States on the eve of the 11th South Korea-Japan-China foreign ministers’ meeting.
“Prime Minister Ishiba emphasized that the importance of the Japan-ROK and Japan-US-ROK relations remains unchanged under the current strategic environment, and called for continued cooperation to maintain and develop bilateral relations based on mutual trust and respect,” the ROK’s foreign ministry website reported.
According to the March 21 report by the ROK Foreign Ministry, Ishiba made the remarks during a meeting between the Asian peninsula state’s Foreign Affairs Minister Cho Tae-yeol, and the Japanese leader.
The ministry went on to say that Cho responded with a call to “maintain the current positive flow of Korea-Japan relations.” He was also reported saying that the two allies could not expect change from “the other side” and that they would need to change themselves to sustain their relationship.
Cho was quoted saying that the two countries should strive to “promote Korea-Japan relations and Korea-US-Japan cooperation.”
This one-on-one meeting took place after a courtesy call in which Cho and Ishiba were present, along with the Japanese minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya, and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.
The ROK website notes that at this earlier meeting, Ishiba “expressed hope for the establishment of a future-oriented cooperative relationship with South Korea and China”—both of whom he described as “important neighbors.”
The website says that Ishiba also hoped that the next day’s talks would be “meaningful.”
According to the ROK’s foreign ministry, Cho weighed in noting the importance of ensuring “the flow of trilateral cooperation that was revitalized through the 9th Korea-Japan-China Summit in May last year” and that the recurrence of these meetings should not be “interrupted again.”
“In this context,” the ROK website continued, “the holding of this Korea-Japan-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting is timely and has special meaning.” It also called for a continuation of efforts “to maintain the momentum of trilateral cooperation going forward.”
The Epoch Times has contacted the Japanese prime minister’s office for additional comments.
The United States, through the newly elected Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has mirrored the ROK and Japan’s commitment to Indo-Pacific allied relations.
The DOD update stated that the defense chiefs of the two countries responded by reiterating “the importance of deepening defense cooperation to strengthen deterrence and to advance a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”
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