KUALA LUMPUR – Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Saturday that she and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to strengthen the bilateral alliance during their first telephone talks.
During the talks, held after their arrival in Kuala Lumpur for meetings related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Takaichi told Trump that “Japan is a very important nation for the United States’ strategies toward China and the Indo-Pacific region,” she said.
Speaking to reporters, Takaichi said she asked for Trump’s cooperation in resolving the issue of North Korea’s past abductions of Japanese nationals, as well as in realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific.
She told Trump, who is visiting Japan from Monday, that she is looking forward to meeting him in Tokyo, while the U.S. leader congratulated her on becoming the prime minister, she added.
Takaichi, elected Japan’s first female premier earlier in the week, is making her first major diplomatic appearances at the ASEAN meetings in Kuala Lumpur.
AloJapan.com