TAIWAN TIGHTROPE
Long considered a China hawk, Takaichi drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing in November when she suggested that close US ally Japan might intervene militarily to thwart any Chinese attempt to take Taiwan.
China, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to annex it, summoned Japan’s ambassador, warned Chinese citizens against visiting Japan and imposed trade restrictions.
Japan, which like others in the region has territorial disputes with China, has moved to deepen security cooperation ties, in particular with the Philippines.
Takaichi, on her first visit to Vietnam since becoming prime minister in October, aims to deepen bilateral cooperation on energy security and supply chain resilience amid major disruptions stemming from the Middle East crisis.
Japan is Vietnam’s largest provider of official development assistance and a key investor and trading partner, with two-way trade surpassing US$50 billion for the first time last year.
Takaichi met Saturday with Prime Minister Le Minh Hung as well as top leader To Lam, the Communist Party boss who last month became president as well.
They agreed to advance their high-level strategic partnership to a “new phase of development”, Hung said, and inked six agreements spanning technology, climate preparedness and information and communication.
The two sides also agreed to deepen security cooperation and “reaffirmed the importance of resolving disputes in the South China Sea through peaceful means based on international law,” according to the Vietnamese prime minister.
Prior to her speech, Takaichi said “Vietnam highlights strategic self-reliance with a positive and active external foreign policy”.
“Therefore, increasing cooperation with Vietnam is extremely important for the realisation and progress of (a) free and open Indo-Pacific”.
Takaichi will travel to Australia after departing Vietnam on Sunday.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/vietnam-japan-sanae-takaichi-speech-free-open-indo-pacific-6095931
