TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will visit Vietnam and the Philippines next week, officials said Wednesday, as Tokyo seeks to ramp up regional ties after Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught.
The April 27-30 trip follows a Southeast Asia tour by Chinese President Xi Jinping, with Beijing trying to position itself as a stable alternative to the United States as leaders confront Trump’s levies.
“Strengthening relations with Southeast Asia, a global growth centre and strategic location, is one of the top priorities of Japanese diplomacy,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.
“Relations with Vietnam and the Philippines are of particular importance, with their populations exceeding 100 million and as they continue their strong economic growth.”
Xi last week urged Vietnam to join forces with China to “oppose unilateral bullying and uphold the stability of the global free trade system”.
Hours later, Trump said Xi’s visit to Hanoi had been aiming to “screw” the United States.
Despite being a key US ally and the biggest investor into the United States, Japan has been pinched by steep tariffs imposed by Trump on imports of cars, steel and aluminium.
Some Japanese companies, reportedly including gaming giant Nintendo, are increasingly shifting production to Vietnam and its neighbour Cambodia, partly because of the fallout from the last US-China trade war.
An official statement from Manila said that Ishiba would visit the Philippines on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
A meeting between Ishiba and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos “will aim to deepen and improve economic and development cooperation, political and defense engagements, and people-to-people exchanges”, it said.
Japan is a key security partner of the Philippines, and an agreement that would allow them to deploy troops on each other’s territory is awaiting ratification by Tokyo.
The two countries in January vowed to strengthen cooperation to counter China’s actions in the disputed South China Sea — with Japan pledging to enhance the Philippines’ “maritime security” and “maritime safety capabilities”.
