Ishiba Attends East Asia Summit In Laos; Regional Tensions Said To Be On Agenda

By Kenta Kamimura / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

17:57 JST, October 11, 2024

VIENTIANE — Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attended the East Asia Summit (EAS) — a gathering including Japan, the United States, China, Russia and the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — in Vientiane on Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were also present at the meeting.

The situation in the East and South China Seas, Taiwan and Ukraine were to be on the agenda, and Ishiba was to express a commitment to the defense of a free and open international order based on the rule of law, a not-so-veiled reference to China’s maritime expansion and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

With tension particularly heightening in the South China Sea, with repeated incidents of Chinese ships ramming Philippine vessels, Ishiba was to appeal to the participating countries not to tolerate any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force.

On Thursday evening, Ishiba also spoke briefly with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Marcos expressed a desire to strengthen trilateral security cooperation between Japan, the United States and the Philippines. Ishiba responded by saying, “I want to further deepen cooperation with the Philippines amid the increasingly severe security environment of the region.”

Ishiba also met with Laotian Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, host of the ASEAN summit, and attended a welcome ceremony in the Laotian capital on Friday morning.