Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday began a four-day trip to the Philippines for meetings with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, at which he is set to seek support for a “free and open Indo-Pacific.” At multilateral summits and in talks with leaders including
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday began a four-day trip to the Philippines for meetings with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, at which he is set to seek support for a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”
At multilateral summits and in talks with leaders including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Manila, Abe is expected to emphasize the importance of the free and open strategy in underpinning the future growth of the region.
He will also seek to affirm coordination with leaders on key issues such as maritime security and the North Korea threat.
According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Abe and Li will meet on Monday afternoon, building on Abe’s discussions on North Korea and other regional and bilateral issues with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Vietnam on Saturday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit.
He is also scheduled to hold talks on Monday with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is chairing the ASEAN summit.
