WASHINGTON/TOKYO: Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president on Jan. 20, ensuring that a high-ranking official from a key Asian ally is on hand for the event, two people familiar with the matter said.
Iwaya was invited by Trump’s camp to the launch of his second term and has accepted, the two people said, confirming Japanese media reports.
He will be the first Japanese cabinet member to attend the swearing-in of a US president, the Nikkei newspaper said.
Japan’s embassy in Washington and officials with Trump’s inauguration team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Iwaya hopes to arrange a meeting with Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, during his visit to the United States, one of the people familiar with the matter said.
The Japanese minister will convey Tokyo’s hope for an early meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, this person said.
Ishiba unsuccessfully sought a meeting in November, shortly after Trump beat Joe Biden in a presidential comeback, sources told Reuters at the time.
Satsuki Katayama, a lawmaker from Ishiba’s governing Liberal Democratic Party, has said she plans to attend the inauguration at the invitation of Senator Bill Hagerty, who was Trump’s ambassador to Tokyo in his first term.
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It will be Iwaya’s first visit to the United States since he became foreign minister in October. Japan, a longtime US ally that enjoyed good relations with Trump during his first administration, will be keen to get off to a good start in his second.
Iwaya will visit South Korea on Monday to shore up security cooperation between the East Asian neighbors and their mutual US ally, aiming to counter China’s growing regional power.
Deepening trilateral security cooperation promoted by the outgoing Biden administration could be more difficult given political turmoil in South Korea prompted by the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Iwaya will also travel to the Philippines, another US treaty ally, and then to the Pacific island nation of Palau, which relies on Washington for economic support and defence.
The Financial Times reported on Thursday that Chinese President Xi Jinping would send a high-level envoy to Trump’s inauguration.
It said Xi could send Han Zheng, a vice president who sometimes stands in for him in ceremonial roles, while another option was Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
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