Japan, US, Philippines vow to boost ties ahead of April summit

The senior officials also acknowledged that any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force cannot be tolerated, according to the ministry, in an apparent criticism of China’s increasing maritime assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

Japan’s Vice-Foreign Minister Masataka Okano, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Maria Theresa Lazaro, an undersecretary of the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department, met in Tokyo.

The three agreed on close collaboration to maintain and reinforce a “free and open international order based on the rule of law” and toward economic growth in the region, the ministry said.

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The diplomats also vowed to steadily advance their partnership in areas such as maritime security, cyber defence, economic security, strategically key infrastructure and securing energy resources, according to the ministry.

Kishida and Biden are scheduled to meet bilaterally the day before the three-way summit. Kishida will visit the United States as a state guest, marking the first such visit by a Japanese leader since then-prime minister Shinzo Abe’s trip in 2015.