US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi reaffirmed the US-Japan alliance’s importance for peace and security when they met on Saturday, a US Department of State spokesman said.
“Secretary Blinken also conveyed the value of US-Japan-Republic of Korea cooperation for maintaining a free, open, interconnected, prosperous, resilient, and secure Indo-Pacific region,” department spokesman Ned Price said, after the talks on the sidelines of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Liverpool, England.
Separately, a Japanese government official said that Hayashi and Blinken on Saturday agreed on the need to fortify their countries’ alliance amid a tougher regional security environment.
Photo: AP
“The ministers, in light of the increasingly severe security environment in the region, agreed it is indispensable to boost the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-US alliance,” the Japanese official said in a media briefing.
Faced with China’s military buildup, and North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday last week said he plans to fundamentally strengthen Japan’s defense posture by looking into options including acquiring the capability to strike enemy bases.
Hayashi and Blinken did not discuss the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics set to start in February, the official said.
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