(Reuters) — The commitment of the United States is vital for peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday (January 16) during a visit to Vietnam, the last destination of his six-day trip to the region.
“We (Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Australia) have agreed that the commitment of the United States is vital for the peace and prosperity of the region,” he told a news conference in Hanoi, following meetings with Vietnamese ruling Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong and President Tran Dai Quang.
“On security matters, the peaceful resolution of conflict, not resorting to threats or the use of military force, the rule of law and the rite of passage – it is important to uphold these fundamental rules and on the economic front, it is important to create a free and fair market that is fit for the 21st century. For this, we would like to maintain close cooperation with the U.S., ASEAN, India and Australia – parties that share a common value, countries that share a strategic gain,” Abe said.
Abe’s stop in Vietnam completes a tour through an arc of a region where Japan stakes a leadership claim in the face of China’s growing dominance and uncertainty over what policy change Donald Trump will bring as U.S. president.
China claims almost all the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion worth of seaborne trade passes every year. Vietnam and four other countries also say they have rights in the sea, believed to have rich deposits of oil and gas.
Tokyo has no territorial ambitions there, but worries about China’s growing military reach into the sea lanes. Japan has a separate dispute with China over a cluster of islets in the East China Sea.
