The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) opened its East Asia and Pacific regional office in Tokyo on Monday, aiming to shore up its ability to respond quickly to a future public health emergency.

The regional office, located inside the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, will collaborate with 26 countries and territories in the region, including Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island nations.

With the memory of the COVID-19 pandemic still fresh, officials who gathered Monday at the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in Tokyo for a ceremony to mark the office’s opening emphasized the need for collaboration among public health authorities.

More than four years after the first report of a human infection with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, the origin of the coronavirus remains a scientifically and politically sensitive issue, with countries including the U.S. blaming China for not being forthcoming with its information sharing in the early days of the outbreak.

“The basic understanding is that you (need) trust — trusting the science, trusting your partners, trusting everybody being forthcoming,” U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said at the ceremony. He added that one of the lessons learned from the pandemic should be that, “if you don't have that trust, it's very hard to confront an international public health crisis.”

In the wake of the pandemic, the U.S. has stepped up efforts to set up regional offices worldwide. New offices have been opened to cover South America, Eastern Europe/Central Asia, the Middle East/North Africa and Southeast Asia. The CDC also plans to open its Central America/Caribbean office in Panama later this year.

“Learning lessons from the last few years, it's never been more important to strengthen our partnerships to protect our health,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen said.

“Establishing this CDC office to support the region is an important step toward strengthening our partnerships to advance health science, build shared capacity and continue to work together to prevent and respond to public health emergencies.”

Michelle McConnell has been named the CDC’s new director for the East Asia and Pacific region. She was previously director for Asia and the Pacific in the Office of Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In May 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans to open the CDC’s Tokyo office, following a bilateral meeting in the Japanese capital with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.