Japan, U.S. Leaders Expected to Meet in N.Y. on Tues.

Tokyo, Sept. 18 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is expected to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday, government sources said.

Takaichi, who will visit New York for four days from Monday to attend the U.N. General Assembly, hopes to exchange views on China with Trump and demonstrate the strength of the Japan-U.S. alliance ahead of the U.S. leader's summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington on Thursday.

The prime minister is also set to meet with other world leaders attending the General Assembly on Tuesday. She is slated to hold a press conference for Japanese and foreign media after her address at the U.N. body the same day. Trump is scheduled to deliver an address that day as well.

The Japan-U.S. summit was proposed by Tokyo and will take place amid speculation that Trump may seek to secure economic benefits in his summit with Xi to tout his administration's diplomatic achievements, as his approval ratings remain low and his Republican Party is expected to face a tough battle in the November midterm elections.

With Japan's relations with China still strained over Takaichi's remark on a possible Taiwan contingency, the prime minister hopes to reiterate Tokyo's stance on China-related issues in her meeting with Trump in order to prevent the Trump-Xi summit from producing an outcome unfavorable to Japan.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]