Japan, Canada Adopt Action Plan on Free, Open Indo-Pacific

Tokyo, Oct. 12 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his Canadian counterpart, Melanie Joly, have adopted an action plan on bilateral cooperation in security and other areas toward the realization of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

With the action plan including the signing of an agreement on information security aimed at ensuring smooth intelligence sharing, the two ministers, holding talks in Tokyo on Tuesday, agreed to launch official negotiations on such an accord.

Japan has signed information security agreements with nine countries and institutions, including the United States.

The Japan-Canada action plan also stipulates cooperation in a liquefied natural gas development project in Canada.

Furthermore, the two countries displayed in the action plan a stance of strongly opposing any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China seas, apparently with China's hegemonic actions in mind.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]