Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will visit the Philippines next week, officials said Wednesday, as part of Tokyo’s summit diplomacy to maintain a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific and efforts to ramp up regional ties after the US tariff onslaught.
Ishiba’s April 27-30 trip to Vietnam and the Philippines follows a Southeast Asia tour by Chinese President Xi Jinping, with Beijing trying to position itself as a stable alternative to the United States as leaders confront Trump’s levies.
“Strengthening relations with Southeast Asia, a global growth center and strategic location, is one of the top priorities of Japanese diplomacy,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.
“Relations with Vietnam and the Philippines are of particular importance, with their populations exceeding 100 million and as they continue their strong economic growth.”
President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos will host Ishiba and his wife, Yoshiko, for formal engagements at Malacañan Palace on April 29.
The Palace said the meeting aims “to deepen and improve economic and development cooperation, political and defense engagements, and people-to-people exchanges.”
Japan is a key security partner of the Philippines, and an agreement that would allow them to deploy troops on each other’s territory is awaiting ratification by Tokyo.
The two countries in January vowed to strengthen cooperation to counter China’s actions in the South China Sea – with Japan pledging to enhance the Philippines’ “maritime security” and “maritime safety capabilities.”
This will mark the latest in a series of high-level exchanges between the longtime allies.
The leaders last met on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, Laos, in October 2024.
President Marcos previously visited Japan in February 2023, followed by an official visit to the Philippines by then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in November of the same year.
Before his two-day visit to Manila, Ishiba will first hold talks with To Lam, general secretary of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party.
Last week, Xi urged Vietnam to join forces with China to “oppose unilateral bullying and uphold the stability of the global free trade system.”
Hours later, Trump said Xi’s visit to Hanoi had been aiming to “screw” the United States.
Despite being a key US ally and the biggest investor into the United States, Japan has been pinched by steep tariffs imposed by Trump on imports of cars, steel and aluminum.
Some Japanese companies, reportedly including gaming giant Nintendo, are increasingly shifting production to Vietnam and its neighbor Cambodia, partly because of the fallout from the last US-China trade war. With AFP
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “Japanese leader Shigeru Ishiba to visit Manila for high-level talks.”