TOKYO: Japanese Foreign Minister HAYASHI Yoshimasa and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a meeting in Australia Friday shared serious concerns over the Ukrainian situation as tensions are growing in the region following military pressure from Russia.

They confirmed that Japan and the United States support the integrity of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territory, and will closely cooperate over the matter.

Blinken thanked Japan for its decision to divert part of its imported liquefied natural gas to Europe amid the growing tensions over Ukraine.

Hayashi and Blinken agreed to strongly oppose China’s unilateral attempts to change the status quo and its economic coercion in the East China and South China seas, while confirming the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

They reaffirmed that Japan and the United States will continue working closely together over North Korea, which is repeatedly test-firing ballistic missiles, and shared the view that it is essential to strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of their countries.

This was the second in-person meeting between Hayashi and Blinken, after their first face-to-face talks in December 2021.

The two confirmed that Tokyo and Washington will speed up work to arrange a Japan visit by US President Joe Biden in the first half of this year.

They agreed that the two countries will aim to hold the first meeting of the “two-plus-two” framework among their foreign and economic ministers at an early date.

The launch of the new framework, similar to the existing two-plus-two security dialogue forum among the countries’ foreign and defense ministers, was agreed on at a videoconference between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Biden last month.

JIJI Press