Special Asean-Japan summit will be held to discuss in depth regional, international issues, says PM Ismail Sabri

• Published date: 28 May 2022
• Publication title: Malay Mail Online

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said a special Asean-Japan summit would be held to discuss in depth regional and international issues.

Ismail Sabri said he had suggested the summit to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in their meeting in Tokyo on Friday that Japan should make an engagement not only with Malaysia but Asean and Kishida agreed to hold it next year.

'Asean usually has its own stand, not of individual countries,' he told Malaysian journalists in Tokyo today, at the end of his official working visit to Japan.

Ismail Sabri said he also told Kishida that Malaysia would not compromise on any form of threat to its sovereignty in the South China Sea.

In handling the complex issue of the South China Sea and involving inter-state relations, all related countries must remain committed to maintaining freedom of navigation...