Visiting British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt met Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Tuesday in Tokyo, reconfirming the "strategic partnership" of the two countries, with Japan welcoming Britain's moves to strengthen its presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
During a meeting with Kono, Hunt reaffirmed upholding the vision of a "free and open Indo-Pacific," a concept proposed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to promote free trade and maritime navigation in the region and thereby help countries there to achieve economic prosperity.
The vision is often seen as Tokyo's effort to keep China's growing power in check in the region, although Japanese officials have officially denied that.