Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida yesterday said he would seek to build a multilayered defense network with other countries while bolstering military cooperation with the US as he seeks to strengthen Japan’s deterrence in a challenging security environment.
Speaking to a group of reporters at his official residence, Kishida also reiterated his commitment to achieving a lasting peace in Ukraine.
The comments come ahead of his trip to Washington for a summit with US President Joe Biden and a three-way leaders’ meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Photo: AP
“Pushing ahead on cooperation with like-minded countries on security, including defense equipment and technology, will lead to the establishment of a multilayered network, and by expanding that we can improve deterrence,” he said.
The prime minister is set to meet Biden one-on-one on Wednesday next week before the two hold the first-ever three-way summit with the Philippine leader.
Kishida and Marcos have each enhanced their bilateral military cooperation with their mutual ally as they confront separate territorial disputes with China, while Japan has transferred equipment such as radar units to the Philippines.
The three are to agree on joint naval patrols in the South China Sea later this year, Politico reported last month, a move that could provoke a strong reaction from China. They are also set to reach agreements on economic security issues like supply chains for nickel, the Nikkei Shimbun reported this week.
The US is seeking to develop a lattice-like structure whereby its allies cooperate among themselves as well as with Washington to counter China’s growing might. The trilateral summit with the Philippines follows on from a similar unprecedented meeting involving Japan and South Korea last year.
Kishida said he would seek to strengthen partnerships with Australia and the UK, but said nothing was decided on cooperation with the AUKUS group, of which both nations are members.
In related news, South Korea is in talks with China and Japan to host a three-way summit next month, Japanese and South Korean media reported, restoring a process that has been on hold since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and political tensions.
South Korea, which would likely host the long-delayed event, is looking to hold the summit late next month, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported yesterday, citing a government source it did not name.
Kyodo News of Japan reported earlier the meeting could be held next month and discussions are set to touch on economic cooperation and regional issues — citing diplomatic sources it did not name.
The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol reiterated that it has been in discussions for the three-way summit when asked about the reports and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul said it would release a date for the event when one has been set.
South Korea has been pressing for months to resume the summit and foreign ministers from the three agreed in November to push for a meeting. However, momentum has slowed since then.
Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshimasa Hayashi, told reporters yesterday that Tokyo would work with China and South Korea for a summit.
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
RSS