Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Vietnamese counterpart, Pham Minh Chinh, agreed on Sunday on the importance of respecting the sovereignty of states while warning against the use of weapons of mass destruction as the war in Ukraine continues.
In a meeting held in Hanoi on the second leg of Kishida's eight-day tour of Southeast Asia and Europe, the two leaders also confirmed their commitment to closer bilateral cooperation in the security and economic fields.
"We confirmed that countries must abide by the principle of respecting the independence and the sovereignty of states," Kishida said in a joint news conference after the talks, adding, "In any region, changing the status quo by force is not permissible."