Japanese foreign minister plans visit to Peru, Paraguay and Chile

The Japanese Foreign Minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, plans an official visit to Paraguay, Chile and Peru, as well as the Caribbean nation of Barbados, Foreign Affairs sources said today without specifying exact dates.

The trip is still in the preparation phase and will be officially announced in the coming days, the source told EFE, and it occurs a few months after the minister’s eleven-day official visit to Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina and the United States. .

With this second trip to Latin America, the Asian country would seek to expand its cooperation with this region ahead of the G7 summit, of which it holds the rotating presidency and which will be held between May 19 and 21 in the Japanese city of hiroshima.

During the visit, which could take place in the first week of May, the Japanese foreign minister is expected to discuss with his Latin American counterparts global problems such as the food and energy crisis created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as China’s growing influence at the national level. global.

The visit also comes at a time when several Latin American countries have turned their backs on Taiwan, including Honduras, which announced in late March that it was cutting diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China.

Before that, Panama, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Nicaragua had already done the same in recent years, while Paraguay and Guatemala are part of the list of thirteen countries with which Taiwan maintains diplomatic relations.

This same Monday, Hayashi stressed the importance of “maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. as “an indispensable element for the prosperity of the international community” and urged “a peaceful resolution of conflicts” in this area, within the framework of the G7 Foreign Affairs meeting that is being held in the Japanese city of Kaurizawa (center).

These statements and the meeting come after a new rise in tensions around the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing, due to new Chinese military maneuvers in response to the recent visit to the United States by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

Source: EFE