Japan, ASEAN to hold summit on Dec. 16-18 to mark 50th anniversary of ties
The leaders of Japan and the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will hold a three-day meeting to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their relationship in December, the top Japanese government spokesman said Thursday.
The Japanese government is preparing for the special summit with ASEAN from Dec. 16 in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news conference.
“We plan to hammer out various concrete steps and our vision for a new level of cooperation for future Japan-ASEAN ties,” Matsuno said.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will host the Group of Seven summit between May 19 and 21 in his home constituency of Hiroshima in western Japan. From ASEAN, Indonesia, this year’s rotating chair of the regional bloc, and Vietnam will join the gathering as guests.
As this year’s G-7 chair, Japan has been seeking to strengthen ties with the “Global South,” a term collectively referring to emerging and developing countries in areas such as Asia and Africa.
Japan in recent years has been trying to boost ties with ASEAN as some of the regional bloc’s members have become increasingly vigilant against China’s growing assertiveness in the East and South China seas.
Some ASEAN members have overlapping territorial claims with China and Taiwan.
ASEAN also consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
