Japan under Beijing’s watch; a new prime minister in ASEAN.
Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi met with several regional leaders on his first international visit to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur, discussing security and economic issues.
The one-day trip began with a bilateral meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the current chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Masanao Ozaki, Japan’s senior deputy chief cabinet secretary, told a news conference after Takaichi returned to Tokyo that the intensive visit “showed the prime minister’s prioritization of ASEAN” and his ability to communicate at the regional level.
He added that the range of issues Takaichi raised in the calls had “impressed” his ASEAN counterparts.
International observers also reacted positively to Takaichi’s first foreign trip, the Associated Press reported.
Takaichi, who replaced Shigeru Ishiba last week, attended only the first day of the ASEAN summit before traveling to Kuala Lumpur to meet US President Donald Trump in Tokyo, skipping other meetings such as the East Asia Summit to return in time for a bilateral meeting with the US president.
Japanese officials said he stressed the need to uphold the “rules-based system” and promote regional growth and prosperity.
Although China was not directly mentioned in the public meetings in Malaysia, Takaichi’s signals and policies, including a pledge to increase defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product by the end of the next fiscal year, have caught Beijing’s attention.
China has previously expressed concerns about visits by some members of Japan’s ruling party to the Yasukuni War Memorial Shrine and policies related to Taiwan, and is monitoring the behavior of the new Tokyo cabinet.