No. 2 Japan, US diplomats agree to establish regular talks
WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- The No. 2 diplomats of Japan and the United States agreed Friday to schedule regular talks, hopefully at least twice a year, to reinforce cooperation on security issues in the Indo-Pacific and on various other fronts, regardless of tensions over tariffs, a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.
Takehiro Funakoshi, Japan's vice foreign minister, held his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau in Washington.
They discussed topics including boosting the deterrence capabilities of the two countries, issues associated with China and North Korea, and cooperation around energy security, according to the official.
Landau and Funakoshi discussed "joint work to pursue a new golden era for U.S.-Japan relations," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement. She said they also reaffirmed the importance of the alliance as the cornerstone of peace and stability in the region.
The Japanese official said they agreed to aim for a meeting involving the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries soon.
Both sides said the diplomats also agreed that Japan and the United States will step up cooperation through the Quad grouping of Indo-Pacific democracies involving Australia and India, as well as with South Korea and the Philippines.
The ongoing bilateral negotiations on U.S. President Donald Trump's hefty tariffs were not a major topic of discussion during the meeting that lasted about 100 minutes, the official said.
But the official said Funakoshi, the Japanese ministry's top bureaucrat, called for U.S. diplomatic support toward a mutually beneficial trade deal.
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