Newly appointed U.S. national security adviser Lt. Gen. Herbert Raymond McMaster and Shotaro Yachi, the head of the Japanese National Security Council's secretariat, agreed Wednesday to closely coordinate moves and meet in the United States in the near future.
According to the government, the security policy aides exchanged views over the phone on regional issues and affirmed that they will deepen their discussion soon during a visit by Yachi to the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump appointed McMaster, a lieutenant general in the U.S. Army, on Monday for the position recently vacated by Michael Flynn. Flynn, who visited Japan late last year, resigned last week over his handling of discussions with Russian contacts about U.S. sanctions.
Yachi, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's key foreign policy adviser, is likely to seek common ground on the security situation in East Asia with McMaster, who does not have an obvious history of connections with Japan.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday it would be natural for Yachi and McMaster to meet once the latter has settled into his work. He hailed McMaster as being "highly regarded as a leading strategist in the (U.S.) Army."
Since the launch of the Trump administration in January, Abe, Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Defense Minister Tomomi Inada have held talks with their U.S. counterparts.