Tokyo, 7 June, /AJMEDIA/
Japan and Lithuania pledged Monday to cooperate with the international community to stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as soon as possible.
Senior vice foreign minister Takako Suzuki and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, during a meeting in Tokyo, also shared the view that the security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific region is “indivisible,” according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry.
The Baltic country shares borders with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and Russia’s close ally Belarus, and has been a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization since 2004. It has taken in tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees.
The two agreed that the Russian aggression that began in February “shakes the foundation of the international order” and that unity among the nations sharing fundamental values “has never been needed more than now,” the ministry said in a press release.
They also pledged to work together closely toward the realization of a free and open Indo-Pacific, a Japanese and U.S.-promoted vision to counter China’s increasing military and economic influence in the region.
Apparently referring to Beijing’s retaliatory measures for Lithuania’s move to build closer ties with Taiwan, Suzuki and Landsbergis confirmed that they will continue to cooperate to deal with “economic coercion” against Lithuania.
In February, China suspended imports of Lithuanian beef products after the Baltic state allowed Taiwan to establish a representative office last November under the name of the self-ruled democratic island, which Beijing views as part of its territory.
Suzuki met with the visiting Lithuanian minister on behalf of Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who has been recuperating at home since last week after testing positive for the coronavirus.