ASEAN, Japan share many common values: Japanese diplomat

Jakarta (VNA) - Peace, trust and respect are the values that Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have shared over the past 50 years, stated Japanese Ambassador to ASEAN Kiya Masahiko.

Speaking to Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’s correspondents in Jakarta, Ambassador Kiya said that this vision has already been presented more than 40 years ago when Prime Minister Fukuda came over to ASEAN and made a policy speech, which is now called Fukuda doctrine.

The doctrine underlined that Japan will never become a military power threatening the region, while promoting the heart to heart relationship, understanding and mutual trust, supporting ASEAN’s efforts for resilience and unity as an equal partner, he said, stressing that this has been underlying factual values which have driven Japan's cooperation with ASEAN over the last 50 years.

Regarding Japan’s policy and priorities in the relations with ASEAN, the diplomat said that Japan will fully support ASEAN’s initiative of implementing a mainstreaming ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), as this is in line with and shares the fundamental principles with Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision, which is to bring about the rule of law and peace and prosperity in this region. He said that Japan's national security strategy, which was announced in December last year, highlighted the country’s renewed commitment to promote Free and Open Indo-Pacific, and ASEAN is in its core.

Mentioning the position of Vietnam in the overall external policy of Japan in general and the FOIP in particular, as well as the role that Vietnam plays in the ASEAN-Japan cooperation, Ambassador Kiya said that Vietnam is a very important country in ASEAN for Japan.

In terms of investment, according to the latest survey by the Japanese External Trade Organisation (JETRO), the percentage of Japanese companies who are willing to expand their activities investment in Vietnam is the highest of all the ASEAN countries.

The two-way flow of people is also equally important, he said, noting that the two countries are quite prominent in people to people exchanges, including tourism.

He said he hopes that the Vietnam will drive and deepen the ASEAN-Japan cooperation through business, people to people exchange and mutual understanding.

The ambassador said that the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit will be held in Tokyo in December on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of their relationship, and it will be a big important landmark summit meeting with a good joint statement to go with action plans.

In addition, an ASEAN-Japan summit meeting will be held in Jakarta in September, along with a number of ASEAN-Japan ministerial meetings, including an ASEAN-Japan foreign ministers’ meeting and a justice ministers’ meeting in July, and another tourism ministers’ dialogue in Japan in October this year, he said.

He said he hopes that these meetings will provide forums for both sides to share ideas and suggestions on other important areas along with the AOIP, like public health, or global health, disaster management, digitalisation, decarbonisation, and the circular economy.

“And all those important issues can best be addressed by the collaboration, co-creation, co-innovation by the new generations of the people of ASEAN and Japan, and we are hoping that this year will be a good opportunity to raise the level of cooperation to a higher level,” stated the ambassador./.