Japan Diet to Let FM Attend Quad Meeting in India

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:09 JST, March 2, 2023

After Diet deliberations meant Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi could not attend the two-day G20 foreign ministers meeting in India, he will be allowed to participate in a Quad meeting Friday.

The foreign ministers of the Quad, a framework that groups Japan, the United States, Australia and India, will also meet in India.

Hayashi did not attend the G20 meeting because he had to be present for the fiscal 2023 budget proposal deliberations at the House of Councillors Budget Committee.

Kenji Yamada, a state minister for foreign affairs, is attending the G20 meeting on behalf of Hayashi.

The Diet proceedings tying Hayashi to the upper house meeting came under criticism for damaging Japan’s diplomatic standing.

Thus, the chairpersons of the upper house Diet Affairs Committee from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan held a meeting Wednesday in which they agreed that their parties would not demand the foreign minister’s attendance at Friday’s deliberations at the Budget Committee.

The Quad foreign ministers are expected to confirm strengthening cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region at Friday’s meeting, with an eye on China, which has been stepping up its coercive activities.