Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani will begin his three-day tour of Vietnam at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Phung Quang Thanh on Thursday.
The Japanese minister will visit Vietnam after attending the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM+) organized in Kuala Lumpur this week, a source at the Embassy of Japan in Hanoi told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
ADMM+ was established in 2007 for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its eight Dialogue Partners to strengthen security and defense cooperation for peace, stability, and development in the region, according to the official website of the bloc.
ASEAN is a ten-member group which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
The upcoming meeting of the biennial ADMM+ will be held on November 3 and 4, with the participation of defense ministers from ASEAN member states, China, the United States, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia and Australia in order to alleviate the heightened tension in the East Vietnam Sea, according to Kyodo News.
After visiting Cam Ranh Bay in the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa on November 5, the Japanese minister will confer with Defense Minster Phung Quang Thanh and meet other top Vietnamese leaders in Hanoi on November 6, the Tuoi Tre source said.
Minister Nakatani will return to Japan on November 7, it added.
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