Blinken to pay Abe condolence visit to Japan

Blinken is in Thailand on a pre-scheduled visit and had been in Indonesia on Friday attending a Group of 20 nations’ overseas ministers assembly in Bali when Abe was shot and killed. He would be the most senior U.S. official to visit Japan within the aftermath of Abe’s loss of life.

On Saturday in Bali, Blinken mentioned Abe’s killing was a “tragedy” for the world and, like many different present and former U.S. officers, lauded the previous prime minister for his imaginative and prescient.

“Prime Minister Abe was a transformative leader, a statesman, someone of truly global stature,” Blinken advised reporters. He added that Abe’s loss of life had shaken the G-20 assembly with lots of his overseas minister colleagues expressing shock and misery on the information.

Shortly after Abe was pronounced lifeless, Blinken met in Bali with Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin to overview technique primarily associated to North Korea. In that assembly and once more on Saturday, Blinken underscored the significance of the U.S.-Japan relationship.

“The alliance between Japan and the United States has been a cornerstone of our foreign policy for decades and as I said yesterday, Prime Minister Abe really brought that partnership to new heights,” he mentioned.

“The friendship between the Japanese and American people is likewise unshakable,” Blinken mentioned. “So we’re standing with the people of Japan, with the prime minister’s family, in the aftermath of a truly, truly appalling act of violence.”