Japan PM Kishida and Singapore’s Lee Agree to Cooperate on Strengthening International Order

Jiji Press

18:42 JST, May 6, 2023

SINGAPORE (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, on Friday agreed to cooperate on the strengthening of the free and open international order based on the rule of law.

The two leaders, meeting at Changi International Airport in Singapore, reached the agreement as they discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the situation in the East and South China Seas where China is showing increasingly hegemonic moves.

Singapore is the only country among member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that has imposed sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.

Kishida held the meeting with Lee over lunch for some 75 minutes at the Singaporean airport where a Japanese government jet carrying Kishida stopped over for refueling on its way back to Japan after his tour of four African nations.

Kishida briefed Lee on a new action plan he announced in March to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific and Japan’s three key security documents revised in December last year. In response, Lee said he looks forward to the role to be played by Japan in the region.