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Kyodo News InternationalJuly 10, 2014 3:18pm
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida is making arrangements to visit Vietnam later this month and seek the Southeast Asian country's backing for Japan's new security policy, Japanese government sources said Thursday.
Kishida plans to pay a two-day trip from July 30 to Vietnam where he hopes to explain the Cabinet's July 1 decision to reinterpret the pacifist Constitution to allow Japan's use of the right to collective self-defense, the sources said.
The foreign minister is also expected to assure Vietnam that Japan will boost bilateral cooperation over maritime security in the East and South China seas, the sources said.
Kishida was scheduled to visit Vietnam from late June to early July but postponed it because he judged it necessary to remain in Japan to deal with his country's July 1 talks with North Korea.
According to the sources, Kishida plans to tell Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh during their meeting that Japan's path as a pacifist nation remains unchanged despite the decision on collective self-defense.
With countries such as the United States, Australia and the Philippines having welcomed or expressed their support for the Japanese policy on collective self-defense, Japan apparently hopes to add Vietnam to its list of supporters and counter China which wants to ignite global criticism over the decision.
China, which suffered under Japan's wartime brutality, has not welcomed the change in Japanese security policy.
The maritime issue is expected to be taken up during Kishida's talks given that both Japan and Vietnam have territorial disputes with China.
Beijing's growing maritime assertiveness is evident in the East China Sea, where the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, a group of uninhibited islets claimed by China, are located. China has repeatedly sent patrol ships into territorial waters around the Senkakus.
Beijing has also increased tensions with Vietnam by deploying an oil rig off the Paracel Islands that are disputed with Vietnam, leading to clashes between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels.
==Kyodo
Copyright 2014 Kyodo News International.
Japan foreign minister eyes Vietnam trip later this month: sources | GlobalPost
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida is making arrangements to visit Vietnam later this month and seek the Southeast Asian country's backing for Japan's new security policy, Japanese government sources said Thursday.
Kishida plans to pay a two-day trip from July 30 to Vietnam where he hopes to explain the Cabinet's July 1 decision to reinterpret the pacifist Constitution to allow Japan's use of the right to collective self-defense, the sources said.
The foreign minister is also expected to assure Vietnam that Japan will boost bilateral cooperation over maritime security in the East and South China seas, the sources said.
Kishida was scheduled to visit Vietnam from late June to early July but postponed it because he judged it necessary to remain in Japan to deal with his country's July 1 talks with North Korea.
According to the sources, Kishida plans to tell Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh during their meeting that Japan's path as a pacifist nation remains unchanged despite the decision on collective self-defense.
With countries such as the United States, Australia and the Philippines having welcomed or expressed their support for the Japanese policy on collective self-defense, Japan apparently hopes to add Vietnam to its list of supporters and counter China which wants to ignite global criticism over the decision.
China, which suffered under Japan's wartime brutality, has not welcomed the change in Japanese security policy.
The maritime issue is expected to be taken up during Kishida's talks given that both Japan and Vietnam have territorial disputes with China.
Beijing's growing maritime assertiveness is evident in the East China Sea, where the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, a group of uninhibited islets claimed by China, are located. China has repeatedly sent patrol ships into territorial waters around the Senkakus.
Beijing has also increased tensions with Vietnam by deploying an oil rig off the Paracel Islands that are disputed with Vietnam, leading to clashes between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels.
==Kyodo
Copyright 2014 Kyodo News International.
Japan foreign minister eyes Vietnam trip later this month: sources | GlobalPost
