Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, with limited experience in international affairs, will have to manage Trump’s demands and unpredictability and China’s wariness of her strong support for a military build-up and her right-wing views on Japan’s invasion of China before and during World War II.
She arrives in Malaysia on Saturday for meetings with Southeast Asian leaders, then returns to Japan to meet Trump before heading to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit at the end of the week. In her first news conference as prime minister, she described her schedule as “packed” with diplomatic events and said it will be a valuable opportunity to meet other regional leaders.
