Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his Malaysian counterpart, Anwar Ibrahim, confirmed Friday that their countries will promote cooperation in the security field.
In their meeting at the Malaysian prime minister’s office near Kuala Lumpur, the two leaders agreed to coordinate for a free and open Indo-Pacific region and closely communicate over the situations in the East and South China seas, bearing in mind China’s growing hegemonic moves.
Ishiba told the meeting that this year is an extremely important one for deciding whether the world will move toward cooperation — rather than confrontation and division — and rebuild peace. Anwar emphasized his eagerness to discuss digital, defense and energy cooperation.
At the meeting, the two leaders agreed to deepen cooperation in the maritime field, including bilateral coast guard cooperation, and in the cybersecurity field, through the strategic dialogue that started in December last year and Japan’s official security assistance framework for providing defense equipment to like-minded countries.
They also shared views on economic cooperation, such as the Asia Zero Emission Community framework for cooperation between Japan and Southeast Asian countries on decarbonization, and confirmed their cooperation on support for Palestine in light of Israel’s continued conflict in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Ishiba’s visit to Malaysia marks his first overseas trip since he took office, in October, except for a tour to South America to attend international conferences in November. The Japanese government views Malaysia, this year’s ASEAN chair, as key to diplomacy with Global South developing and emerging countries.
Ishiba is scheduled to travel to Indonesia later on Friday and hold talks with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Saturday.