Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga to meet Mike Pompeo in early October: Report

Japan’s newly elected Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is preparing to meet top US diplomat Mike Pompeo in Tokyo in early October, said public broadcaster NHK on September 19. It will be the first high-level meeting between the two long-term allies after Suga was elected by the Japanese parliament as country’s new Prime Minister earlier this week.

According to NHK, the US State Secretary will visit Tokyo for QUAD security dialogue where he will hold talks with foreign ministers of India, Japan, and Australia. The final schedule for the QUAD security dialogue, which was delayed due to change in leadership after Shinzo Abe’s resignation, has not been announced yet.

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as Quad, is an informal strategic forum between India, US, Japan, and Australia. The strategic alliance was formed to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and check China’s expansionist efforts in the region, which has become a major cause of concern for a rules-based order.

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Abe's legacy

Recently, Shinzo Abe, months before his resignation as Prime Minister, and Australian PM Scott Morrison had agreed to expand the Quad cooperation in the areas of defence and security amid rising threat from China. Abe had said that the leaders agreed to expand cooperation, including in the areas of defence and security between Japan and Australia as well as under Japan-Australia-US-India frameworks.

Japan's parliament elected Yoshihide Suga as country's new Prime Minister on September 16, with the ruling party president securing an easy win. Suga received 314 votes in favour out of 462 valid ballots cast in the lower house of parliament. He is expected to finish the rest of the current term until elections in September 2021 and any dramatic shift in key policy decisions is highly unlikely. Abe had focussed on strengthening ties with traditional allies like the United States, Australia and India, but he also did a balancing act by not letting sour Japan’s relationship with China.

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