Japan's new foreign minister is promising to strengthen his country's economic and political alliance with the United States, in his words, in a manner “suitable to the 21st century.”
Takeaki Matsumoto spoke Wednesday in Tokyo, shortly after taking office earlier in the day. Matsumoto's predecessor, Seiji Maehara, resigned from the center-left government Sunday after admitting he had accepted an illegal political donation from a foreign resident.
The new top diplomat told reporters that deepened ties with Washington are, in his words, necessary to “ensure the safety and prosperity of the Japanese people.” He did not offer details, but said a large economic partnership in the Asia-Pacific region “serves the interests of our country.”
Sunday's resignation of Seiji Maehara dealt another blow to the embattled government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan. The prime minister's approval ratings and those of his ruling Democratic Party of Japan have sunk below 20 percent, as the government struggles to push a budget through an increasingly hostile parliament.
Foreign Minister Matsumoto, a great-great grandson of Hirofumi Ito, the man who became Japan's first prime minister in 1885, is a former banker serving his fourth term in parliament. He is inheriting a long list of diplomatic challenges, including bitter territorial disputes with China and Russia.
Japan filed a formal protest with Beijing after a Chinese helicopter flew close to a Japanese warship in the East China Sea on Monday. Tokyo says the incident occurred near a gas field claimed by both nations near the boundary between their exclusive economic zones. Japan and Russia remain embroiled in a decades-old territorial dispute involving a Pacific island chain claimed by both countries.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire