TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said on Sunday he planned to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president on Jan. 20, as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s government hopes to maintain close ties with its security ally.
“We aim to build a relationship of trust with the Trump administration securely,” Iwaya told a talk show on public broadcaster NHK. He said he was seeking a meeting with Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick to be secretary of state.
India and Australia also announced that their foreign ministers would attend the swearing-in as Trump returns to the White House.
It will be Iwaya’s first visit to the United States since he became foreign minister in October. Japan, a longtime U.S. ally that enjoyed good relations with Trump during his first administration, is keen to get off to a good start in his second.
Ishiba is looking into visiting the United States as early as in the first half of February for his first summit with Trump, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Sunday.
Ishiba unsuccessfully sought a meeting in November, shortly after Trump beat Joe Biden in a presidential comeback, sources told Reuters at the time.
Iwaya said he aimed to meet with other senior officials from the incoming administration to lay the groundwork for an Ishiba visit.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will attend the inauguration at the invitation of the Trump team and meet with members of his incoming administration, his ministry said in a statement.
Penny Wong, foreign minister of fellow U.S. Pacific ally Australia, said on Sunday she would attend Trump’s inauguration, calling it “an important opportunity to discuss how we can advance the benefits of our strong economic and security partnership and expand our cooperation”.
She has said Australia’s centre-left Labor government was confident of its alliance with the United States, its biggest security partner, under the incoming Republican administration.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Additional reporting by Samuel McKeith in Sydney; Editing by David Gregorio and William Mallard)
