Tokyo: Japan's prime minister today headed
to the Baltic states and other European nations as he seeks to
drum up support for his hawkish stance on North Korea.
Despite a recent cooling of tensions in the run-up to the
Winter Olympics in South Korea, Shinzo Abe has insisted on
"maximising pressure" on Pyongyang over its nuclear and
missile programmes.
Abe will visit Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria,
Serbia and Romania, the first sitting Japanese leader to visit
those nations.
"I want to confirm our cooperation on North Korean and
other urgent issues the international community faces," he
told reporters before he left.
Abe, who will meet the heads of the six states on his
tour, also noted that representatives from more than 30
companies would accompany him to develop business ties.
Japan is keen to raise its profile in the region as China
bolsters its ties there.
All six nations Abe is visiting are among the 16 Central
and Eastern European countries that hold an annual summit
meeting with China.
China has been pushing its massive
1 trillion "One Belt,
One Road" initiative, which seeks to build rail, maritime and
road links from Asia to Europe and Africa in a revival of
ancient Silk Road trading routes.
Abe is due to return to Japan on Wednesday.
