Japan preparing for Pacific Summit with South Korea, Australia and New

Tokyo: NATO meeting is scheduled to be held the next week in the Spanish capital Madrid. NATO has invited even the partner countries for this meeting convened against the background of the Ukraine conflict. An independent meeting of Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand will be held on this occasion. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has given indications regarding this. The local media have reported that Japan will convene this meeting given the increasing Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.

Moreover, China is intensifying its activities in the Indo-Pacific region by taking advantage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. An audio of the Chinese plans to take over Taiwan was published a few days ago. Last week, it was reported that China held naval exercises to practice an attack on Taiwan. At the same time, Japan, New Zealand and Australia have expressed a concern that the Chinese activities in the Indo-Pacific sector pose a threat to their security.

Against this background, the Japanese media reported, quoting government sources, that Japan was organising the pacific summit to stop this Chinese aggression. According to these sources, Prime Minister Kishida can hold an independent meeting with the heads of state of Australia, New Zealand and South Korea on the sidelines of the NATO meeting. It is claimed that newly elected South Korean President Yoon Seok-Yeol, new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will participate in the meeting.

The Japanese government has not made any official announcement regarding the meeting. But the Japanese media are claiming that Prime Minister Kishida is trying to bring the democratic countries together against the aggressive Chinese activities in the Indo-Pacific sector. Even during the QUAD meeting between India, Japan, Australia and the United States, the Japanese Prime Minister had underlined the need for the democratic countries to come together against China in the Indo-Pacific sector. China had criticised Japan following this.