Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya expressed his eagerness to deepen the Japan-U.S. alliance together with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, in a policy speech before parliament Friday.
Iwaya said he will work to take the two countries' cooperation to new heights by building a strong relationship of trust with the Trump administration.
Japan's top priority is to enhance and strengthen the alliance, the cornerstone of the country's diplomacy and security, Iwaya told a plenary meeting of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament.
Specifically, Iwaya said he will work on strengthening the deterrence and response capabilities of the alliance, enhancing the trust and strength of extended deterrence and optimizing U.S. forces stationed in Japan.
He also vowed to expand multilateral cooperation with allies and like-minded countries, such as cooperation among what is called the Quad nations of Japan, the United States, Australia and India, as well as among Japan, the U.S. and South Korea.
On the economic front, Iwaya expressed his determination to expand and deepen broad-based cooperation, including by boosting investment between Japan and the U.S. He apparently had in mind the recent U.S. order to block Nippon Steel's plan to acquire U.S. Steel.
Iwaya reiterated his policy of building a constructive and stable relationship with China by promoting mutually beneficial relations based on common strategic interests.
He also pledged to make every effort to convince China to resume imports of Japanese fishery products and release Japanese nationals detained in China.
Seeing South Korea as an important neighbor, Iwaya said there is no change in the importance of Tokyo's relationship with Seoul, despite the political crisis surrounding South Korea's impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol. He called for the continuance of close bilateral communication.
Iwaya also pledged to keep in place strong sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, he said Tokyo will maintain the policy of resolving the territorial row with Moscow over Japan's Northern Territories, four northwestern Pacific islands controlled by Russia, and concluding a World War II peace treaty. The islands were seized from Japan by the Soviet Union in the closing days of the war.
Also in the speech, Iwaya expressed his serious concern over military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.
Japan will take the most effective approach using all available resources to resolve the issue of abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea decades ago, he said.
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