Japan, U.S. foreign policy chiefs to hold talks on May 3 in London

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi will hold talks along with his U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken on Monday in London, the Foreign Ministry mentioned, with points linked to China, North Korea and Myanmar anticipated to be excessive on the agenda.

Their talks, the primary since March when Blinken visited Japan, can be held earlier than a three-day assembly of foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized international locations.

Based on the primary assembly between Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and U.S. President Joe Biden in April, the 2 foreign policy chiefs are anticipated to focus on sensible features of how greatest to strengthen the bilateral alliance, officers mentioned.

As a part of efforts to enhance the safety alliance amid China’s army rise, Koji Yamazaki, the chief of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces’ Joint Staff, held talks along with his U.S. counterpart Mark Milley in Hawaii on Friday.

Yamazaki and Milley agreed the 2 international locations will proceed to “firmly oppose” any unilateral makes an attempt to change the established order by drive in the East China Sea, the place the Japan-controlled, China-claimed Senkaku Islands are situated, in accordance to the Japanese Joint Staff.

They additionally confirmed that the uninhabited islands fall underneath the scope of Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. safety treaty, which states Washington will defend territories underneath Tokyo’s administration from armed assault, it mentioned.

As South Korea has been invited as a visitor to the G-7 assembly that can run via Wednesday, Japan and the United States are additionally hoping to organize three-way talks between the nations’ high diplomats, the primary for the reason that Biden administration took workplace in January.

The U.S. administration has not too long ago accomplished a months-long policy evaluate on North Korea, with White House Press (*3*) Jen Psaki saying Friday that it’s going to pursue a “sensible” method towards ridding North Korea of its nuclear weapons and won’t focus on putting a grand discount.

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