Japan Aiming to Team Up with Island Nations on Indo-Pacific Strategy

Tokyo, May 6 (Jiji Press)--Japan, at an upcoming summit meeting, aims to beef up collaboration with Pacific island nations for promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific strategy advocated by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. At the eighth Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting, or PALM 8, to be held in the city of Iwaki in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Fukushima, on May 18-19, Tokyo also hopes to confirm with the island nations the policy of keeping maximum pressure on North Korea to realize the denuclearization of the reclusive country, informed sources said. In recent years, China has been trying to boost its presence in the island countries by increasing infrastructure and other aid to them. With the Chinese moves in mind, the Japanese government is considering helping the island countries improve their abilities for the execution of maritime laws, aiming to strengthen the maritime order based on the rule of law, the sources said. Over North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs, Japan is increasingly concerned about the possibility of a reconciliatory mood spreading in the international community following a landmark summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in late April. At the forthcoming summit, Japan will stress the importance of continuing to apply maximum pressure on North Korea and ask for the island nations' cooperation in blocking the country's attempts to escape economic sanctions imposed under U.N. Security Council resolutions, such as ship-to-ship transfers of banned goods, the sources said. The island nations summit, launched in 1997, is held every three years. The 2018 meeting will be joined by 17 countries--14 island nations, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The 14 island countries are the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The previous PALM 7 meeting in 2015 was held in the same Fukushima Prefecture city. By holding the summit in Fukushima again this time, Japan hopes to demonstrate to the world progress in the reconstruction of the prefecture, one of the areas hit hardest by the March 2011 powerful earthquake and tsunami, a senior Foreign Ministry official said. The prefecture is also home to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, where an unprecedented triple meltdown occurred due to damage from the natural disaster. END