Tokyo: Japan’s new prime minister Sanae Takaichi said on Friday that her government will deepen multilateral dialogue with India and other countries such as South Korea, the Philippines and Australia, and advance a “free and open Indo-Pacific” where China is increasing its military activities, the state media in that country has reported.

She called Japan’s alliance with the United States the “cornerstone” of the country’s diplomatic and security policies and emphasized that China is an “important neighbour” with which her country needs to foster “constructive and stable” ties and promote a “strategic and mutually beneficial” relationship. ADVERTISEMENT

She said all of this in her first policy speech to Japanese Parliament Diet since being elected as PM. Takaichi also pledged to lift th

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