TOKYO -- Japan held its seventh foreign and defense ministers' meeting in a year with France on Thursday, the most ever, as the format regains favor under a U.S. president who promotes a multilateral approach to countering China's rising influence.
President Joe Biden values the unique opportunity these "two-plus-two" meetings offer for two nations to discuss foreign policy and defense issues. Within six months of Biden taking office in January 2021, Japan held "two-plus-two" talks with the U.K. the U.S., Indonesia, Germany and Australia.
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