
WASHINGTON -- Japan needs to strengthen cooperation with the U.S. and other partners as it digs deeper into the push for a free and open Indo-Pacific, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told Nikkei.
As leaders in Tokyo, Washington, New Delhi and Canberra come together to push rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region, Armitage, a political stalwart, discussed how Japan's new leadership and the U.S. can deepen that cooperation. But he acknowledged that Japan needs to strike a delicate diplomatic balance, stressing that decisions regarding Asia must ultimately come from Asian countries.