Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took office Tuesday, departed for Kuala Lumpur on Saturday as she makes her diplomatic debut during meetings related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations over the weekend.
Takaichi will emphasize the importance of Japan's "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" (FOIP) initiative as well as free trade, aiming to demonstrate Tokyo's presence in the region.
In her first policy address before parliament on Friday, she vowed to strongly promote the FOIP initiative — championed by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — as a pillar of the country's diplomatic policy and evolve it in line with the times.
Takaichi has complained to aides that the government has not been doing enough recently to promote the initiative, according to one source.
At a news conference Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said that ASEAN, which is in a geopolitically strategic location, holds the key to realizing the strategy.
She also hopes to deepen cooperation with Southeast Asian countries that share fundamental values at a time when China is increasing hegemonic behavior in the Asia-Pacific region.
culled from Japan Times
