Japan and the Philippines would convey to US president-elect Donald Trump the urgent need for the US to remain committed to helping uphold the rule of law in an Asian region where security concerns have become “increasingly severe,” Japan’s top diplomat said yesterday.
The US, Japan and the Philippines have been building an alliance under outgoing US President Joe Biden since last year to deal with China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed South China and East China seas.
Trump’s “America first” foreign policy thrust has triggered concerns about the scale and depth of US commitment to the region under his new term.
Photo: AFP
“We will approach the next US administration to convey that constructive commitment of the United States in this region is important also for the United States itself,” Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said in a news conference with his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo, in Manila.
Iwaya said he was scheduled to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday next week as one of Washington’s closest treaty allies in Asia along with the Philippines.
“Amid the increasingly severe strategic environment in the region, Japan places importance on our bilateral cooperation as well as on maintaining and strengthening trilateral cooperation between Japan, the Philippines and the United States,” Iwaya said.
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