Press Releases
Vice Minister Funakoshi’s Travel to the United States
May 17, 2025
(Photo: United States Department of State)
(Photo: United States Department of State)
From May 15th to 16th, Mr. FUNAKOSHI Takehiro, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, traveling to Washington, D.C., the United States, held meetings with the Honorable Christopher Thomas Landau, Deputy Secretary of State of the United States of America, and others. The overview is as follows:
- On May 16th, Vice Minister Funakoshi held a meeting with Deputy Secretary Landau:
- They exchanged views broadly on Japan-U.S. cooperation in areas including security and the economy, and concurred to continue working closely together to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. Alliance, building upon the outcomes of the Japan-U.S. Summit Meeting in February. They also concurred to convene a Security Consultative Committee (SCC: “2+2”) meeting at an early date.
- They concurred to conduct consultations between Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and Department of State of the United States regarding concrete measures to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific.
- Furthermore, they reaffirmed the importance of further strengthening the coordination among like-minded countries in the region such as Japan-U.S.-ROK, Japan-U.S-Philippines and Japan-Australia-India-U.S. (Quad).
- They exchanged views on regional situations, such as issues related to China, and their policies toward North Korea including on the nuclear and missile issues as well as the abductions issue. Vice-Minister Funakoshi expressed his appreciation for the consistent support from the U.S. government regarding the abductions issue as confirmed by Deputy Secretary Landau.
- The two sides concurred to regularly hold Japan-U.S. vice-minister's meetings. They also concurred to promote Japan-U.S.-ROK Trilateral Vice Foreign Ministerial Meetings.
- During his stay in the United States, Vice-Minister Funakoshi also held meetings with Mr. Alex Wong, Deputy National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, and Dr. Andrew Baker, National Security advisor to Vice President of the United Staes, and exchanged views broadly on common challenges that Japan and the United States are facing. Furthermore, Vice-Minister Funakoshi exchanged views with Senator Steve Daines and Senator William Hagerty, and both sides reaffirmed the importance of collaboration with the U.S. Congress for further strengthening the Japan-U.S. Alliance.