Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida entrusted Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Thursday to raise the issue of COVID-19 measures at American bases in Japan during an upcoming meeting between Japanese and US ministers
TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th January, 2022) Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida entrusted Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Thursday to raise the issue of COVID-19 measures at American bases in Japan during an upcoming meeting between Japanese and US ministers.
On Friday, the 2+2 meeting between Japanese and US foreign and defense ministers will be held by videoconference. The ministers are expected to discuss security challenges, future cooperation toward the realization of a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific," and strengthening the joint capabilities of the US-Japan alliance.
"So far we have been demanding that the American side take comprehensive measures to prevent infections, including the demand for the American side to impose a ban on leaving the bases, but now, in light of the 2+2 talks, I have entrusted the foreign minister to once again present demands on taking urgent strict measures to the American side," Kishida told reporters.
Earlier in the day, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said that Yoshimasa held a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and called on the US military command to strengthen and carefully observe measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Japanese officials believe that the surge in Omicron cases in Okinawa began with an outbreak at the US base Camp Hansen and then spread across the prefecture. In December, four American soldiers tested positive for Omicron at the base, as the United States had been sending troops to Okinawa without taking PCR tests in advance since September. The Japanese government and the Okinawa prefectural government urged US command not to allow employees and military personnel to leave the base to quell the spread of the outbreak, but American soldiers were spotted outside the base several times.
On Thursday, the daily number of coronavirus cases across Japan exceeded 4,000 cases for the first time since September 2021. In particular, Okinawa reported a record high of 981 infections, a record high of 181 cases in Yamaguchi, and 273 infections over the past day in Hiroshima.
