Senior diplomats from Japan and the United States agreed Tuesday to keep working closely together to respond to "various challenges over China," the Japanese government said.
During their meeting in Tokyo, Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman also pledged to continue to work toward the complete denuclearization of North Korea under U.N. Security Council resolutions, including in a trilateral cooperation framework with South Korea, according to the Foreign Ministry.
The two diplomats' reference to Beijing apparently reflects wariness about its maritime assertiveness in the East and South China seas, including Chinese vessels' repeated intrusions into Japanese territorial waters near the Japan-controlled, China-claimed Senkaku Islands.