Japan and US to Hold 2+2 Talks in Tokyo Next Week

Tokyo: Japan and the United States will conduct a series of high-level meetings starting July 28, including a Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the Japan-US Security Consultative Committee (2+2) talks, and a Japan-US Ministerial Meeting on Extended Deterrence. The meetings will take place during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s two-day visit to Tokyo, as announced by the Japanese Foreign Ministry on Monday.

During the 2+2 talks, Blinken and Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa, alongside US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Japanese Defence Minister Minoru Kihara, will discuss security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. They will review the outcomes of security and defence cooperation from Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Washington in April and plan future collaboration aimed at achieving a ‘free and open’ Indo-Pacific.

The talks will focus on enhancing the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-US alliance and setting the course for future security and defence cooperation in the region.