Tokyo, March 16, (dpa/GNA) – Two secretaries from US President Joe Biden’s administration and their Japanese counterparts on Tuesday shared concerns about China’s increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region during their first in-person meeting in Tokyo.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin held the so-called two-plus-two talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi.
Speaking at a joint news conference, Motegi said the two countries expressed their concern about a new Chinese law which allows Beijing’s coastguard to use weapons on foreign ships.
Chinese coastguard vessels are frequently spotted near a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, a source of diplomatic tension between Beijing and Tokyo.
The Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands are also claimed by China and Taiwan, where they are known as Diaoyu/Tiaoyutai.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said earlier this month the law does “not target any specific country.”
“The United States and Japan remain opposed to any unilateral action that seeks to change the status quo or to undermine Japan’s administration of these islands,” the four ministers said in a joint statement, referring to the islets.
The ministers also expressed “serious concerns” about the human rights situations in Hong Kong and China’s Xinjiang region, where the Muslim Uighur minority lives.
They also reaffirmed their commitment to the denuclearization of North Korea and called on Pyongyang to abide by its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions.
Ahead of the two-plus-two talks, Blinken held a one-to-one meeting with Motegi.
“It is no accident that we chose Japan for the first cabinet-level overseas travel of the Biden-Harris administration,” Blinken told a news conference.
“[For more than five decades] our alliance has been a cornerstone for our peace, security, and prosperity – not only for our two countries, but for the region, and indeed for the world,” he said.
“We’re also standing together in support of our shared values. We believe in democracy, human rights, and rule of law,” Blinken continued. However, those values “are under threat in many places, including in the region – whether it’s in Burma or whether in different ways in China.”
Blinken and Motegi also discussed Iran, climate change, cybersecurity and countermeasures against the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
During their separate meeting, Kishi and Austin underscored the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait amid a growing military threat from China.
Austin met Nobuo “to deepen the US-Japan defense relationship; the cornerstone of peace and security in a #FreeAndOpenIndoPacific,” John Kirby, Assistant Secretary of Defence for Public Affairs, wrote on Twitter.
The two secretaries’ trip to Japan comes ahead of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s first meeting with Biden at the White House in early April.
Suga will become the first foreign leader to hold in-person talks with the new US president, who was inaugurated in January.
Blinken and Austin are scheduled to leave for South Korea on Wednesday.
On his way back to Washington, Blinken plans to meet China’s highest-ranking foreign policy official, Yang Jiechi, and Wang in Anchorage, Alaska, while Austin plans to travel to New Delhi to hold talks with Indian leaders.
GNA