Takaichi Holds Phone Talks with Trump for 1st Time

Kuala Lumpur, Oct. 25 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, now on a visit to Malaysia, held phone talks Saturday night with U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time since taking office Tuesday. Takaichi told Trump that the Japan-U.S. alliance is the most important element of her administration’s foreign and security policies. The two leaders agreed to elevate the bilateral alliance to a higher level. The new Japanese leader also told Trump that Japan is a very important country for the United States’ strategies toward China and the Indo-Pacific region. She called on Trump to work together to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific and asked for his cooperation to resolve the issue of North Korea’s abductions of Japanese nationals decades ago. Takaichi praised the U.S. leader’s contributions in brokering a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Islamic militant group Hamas. Recalling his friendship with the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump said he knows that Abe had cared about Takaichi. The phone talks were held about 10 minutes while Takaichi was staying at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur and Trump was heading for Malaysia aboard Air Force One. Takaichi and Trump are scheduled to meet in person in Tokyo on Tuesday, during the U.S. leader’s three-day visit to Japan starting Monday. The Japanese prime minister arrived in Malaysia earlier on Saturday to attend summit talks related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Before her departure, Takaichi sent a message to a Japan-U.S. meeting in Tokyo for discussions on international issues. In the message, she said she wants to make her upcoming meeting with Trump an opportunity to deepen the relationship of trust between the two leaders. As conflicts and divisions deepen around the world and the security environment is increasingly severe, it is essential to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance, which is the cornerstone of regional peace and prosperity, the message said. It also said that Takaichi aims to deepen her partnership with Trump through candid discussions on the challenges facing Japan and the United States, including those in the Indo-Pacific region, the Middle East, Europe and Ukraine. During Trump’s Japan visit, which will follow his travel to Malaysia and precede a trip to South Korea, he and Takaichi plan to visit the U.S. Navy’s Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, together to demonstrate the unity of the Japan-U.S. alliance to the international community. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]