MANILA, Philippines – Japan and the United States reaffirmed its commitment to further develop the trilateral cooperation between Japan, the United States and the Philippines.
This was concurred by Japanese Foreign Minister IWAYA Takeshi and the new U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a Foreign Ministers’ meeting at Washington, D.C. on Wednesday (Jan. 22).
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, this is the first meeting between the two officials.
During the meeting, Iwaya and Rubio expressed their agreement on the importance of further developing coordination of like-minded countries, including Japan-U.S.-Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan-Australia-India-U.S. and Japan-U.S.-Philippines.
On January 15, Iwaya visited the Philippines and met with Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo.
The Japanese minister expressed “grave concern” about the repeated actions causing tensions in the South China and strongly called for the easing of tensions.
“I am gravely concerned about actions heightening tension in the South China Sea are repeated. Issue over the South China Sea is a legitimate concern for the international community because it directly links to the regional peace and stability,” Iwaya told reporters during a press conference in Taguig City.
“Japan strongly opposes any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force or build up tension in the region. We strongly ask for easing of tensions,” Iwaya added.
Minister Iwaya also mentioned that during the bilateral meeting, both officials agreed to further strengthen the partnership between Japan and the Philippines, particularly its assistance to the country, including its Official Security Assistance (OSA) in enhancing maritime security and its Official Development Assistance (ODA) for improving maritime safety capabilities.
Rubio also sent a stern warning to China to “stop messing around” with its allies, particularly the Philippines and Taiwan, saying such “deeply destabilizing” actions in the region can have “enormous” effects.
Standing in front of the members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs for his confirmation hearing earlier, the former senator from Florida said that if Beijing is serious in stabilizing U.S.-China relations, then it should avoid doing “anything rash or irrational” so as not to force the U.S. to counteract “in ways we prefer not to have to.”
