Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi to meet top Vietnam leaders in Hanoi<\/p>\n
The Japanese leader will hold talks with Vietnamese President To Lam\nas both sides aim to boost bilateral ties amid a drop in Japanese\ninvestment in Vietnam.<\/p>\n
HANOI: Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will meet top Vietnamese\nleaders in Hanoi on Saturday (May 2), with Japanese media saying she\nwill make a speech touting a \u201cfree and open\u201d Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n
The trip is Takaichi\u2019s first to Vietnam since becoming prime minister\nin October and she aims to deepen bilateral cooperation on energy\nsecurity, supply chain resilience and technological innovation,\naccording to Vietnamese state media reports.<\/p>\n
She will meet Saturday with Prime Minister Le Minh Hung as well as\ntop leader To Lam, the Communist Party boss who last month also became\npresident.<\/p>\n
Japan is Vietnam\u2019s largest provider of official development\nassistance and a key investor and trading partner, with two-way trade\nsurpassing US$50 billion for the first time last year.<\/p>\n
Both countries share concerns about China\u2019s territorial claims in the\nEast and South China Seas, and both have sought to hedge against\nUS-driven trade disruptions by broadening economic and security\nties.<\/p>\n
But Hanoi aims to stay on good terms with all global powers through\nits traditional \u201cbamboo diplomacy\u201d approach, while Tokyo has seen its\nalready frosty relations with Beijing deteriorate markedly in recent\nmonths.<\/p>\n
Takaichi drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing in November when she\nsuggested that close US ally Japan might intervene militarily to thwart\nany Chinese attempt to take Taiwan.<\/p>\n
China, which regards democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and\nhas not ruled out using force to annex it, summoned Japan\u2019s ambassador,\nwarned Chinese citizens against visiting Japan and imposed trade\nrestrictions.<\/p>\n
Beijing has also slammed Takaichi\u2019s calls for a \u201cfree and open\nIndo-Pacific\u201d, saying they are a veiled attempt to promote bloc\nconfrontation.<\/p>\n
Takaichi will return to the theme in her foreign policy speech on\nSaturday, according to Japanese media reports, calling for cooperation\nto ensure security, free trade and stable supply chains including for\nenergy and critical minerals.<\/p>\n
She will speak at a university in Hanoi, an event to which foreign\nmedia have been denied access.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/japanese-pm-sanae-takaichi-to-meet-top-vietnam-leaders-in-hanoi-1777690325", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }