Blinken repeated the “ironclad commitment” to defence to Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Hayashi Yoshimasa on Saturday, and “condemned the DPRK’s continued unlawful ballistic missile launches into the Sea of Japan.”
The three countries issued a joint statement on Thursday to “condemn” North Korea’s launch of two short-range ballistic missiles, just after Pyongyang warned of an “inevitable” response to continuing US-South Korea joint military drills.
Last year, Tokyo unveiled a major defence overhaul, pledging to boost security spending to two per cent of GDP by 2027 and calling China the “greatest strategic challenge ever” for Japan.
The trilateral statement reflected the growing thaw between Japan and South Korea – a major foreign policy goal of US President Joe Biden’s administration amid tensions in the region and China’s growing influence.
Blinken also told Park, though not Hayashi, of the US pledge to “responsibly manage the US-PRC relationship.”
The visit was rescheduled after a planned trip to Beijing in February was cancelled when Washington said it detected – and later shot down – a Chinese spy balloon.
Biden told reporters on Saturday morning that he also hoped to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping “over the next several months” to talk about “legitimate differences we have but also how … to get along.”
