Kishida Leaves for Singapore for Asia Security Summit

Tokyo, June 10 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida left for Singapore on Friday to attend the Asia Security Summit, where he will pledge to craft an action plan to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

"I will tell the world about our vision as to what contribution Japan can deliver as a pacifist nation, when the peace and order of the world are facing a big challenge," Kishida told reporters before departing from Tokyo International Airport at Haneda on a government plane.

At the conference, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, Kishida will deliver a keynote speech, in which he will make the pledge about the Indo-Pacific action plan apparently in view of increasingly hegemonic activities by China.

He will be the first Japanese prime minister to deliver a keynote speech at the conference in eight years.

Kishida will also announce his commitment not to allow a situation similar to Russia's invasion of Ukraine to happen in East Asia and share such a recognition with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and others.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]