
TOKYO: Leaders of Japan and Pacific island nations will adopt a joint statement opposing changing the status quo by force in the region at the end of their three-day meeting in Tokyo through Thursday, it was learned Wednesday.
The declaration for the ongoing Japan-hosted 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting will clarify the participants’ common stance against any attempts to one-sidedly change the status quo by force or coercion at a time when China is stepping up its hegemonic moves in the Pacific Ocean, informed sources said.
The statement will be adopted along with an action plan.
On the sidelines of the summit, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held individual talks with his counterparts from Palau, the Marshall Islands, Fiji, Samoa, the Cook Islands, Tonga and the Solomon Islands at the prime minister’s office on Wednesday.
Kishida vowed to extend aid to the countries to help resolve their specific issues.
In particular, Kishida pledged to help Palau, which was hit by a major cyberattack in March, beef up its telecommunications networks and hold cyber-defense drills and share with tsunami-prone Fiji disaster prevention information provided by Japan’s Michibiki quasi-zenith satellite.
He offered to supply data from the country’s Himawari weather observation satellite to Samoa and help the Solomon Islands, which has been strengthening ties with China, build a fisheries research center.
“I’d like to make ties between Japan and the Pacific island nations stronger and demonstrate to the rest of the world that we are moving in the same direction,” Kishida said in the meetings.
Later, Kishida and his wife, Yuko, hosted a dinner party for the Pacific island leaders and their spouses at the Akasaka Palace state guest house.
Earlier in the day, Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako invited them to the Imperial Palace for a tea party.
JIJI Press