Japan reaffirms support for ICC despite strong US opposition
Sanae Takaichi says Tokyo will lobby other countries for the court's survival after affirming Japan's support in talks with Donald Trump in New York.
- Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi affirmed that Japan will continue to support the International Criminal Court (ICC), despite acknowledging strong US distrust.
- The Prime Minister directly communicated Japan's supportive stance on the ICC to US President Donald Trump.
- The US opposition includes sanctioning senior ICC officials, including its Japanese president, and calling for member states to withdraw from the court.
- Diplomatic communication on the issue will continue between the Japanese Foreign Minister and the US Secretary of State.
Japan will keep backing the International Criminal Court (ICC) and lobbying other countries for its survival, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Friday (September 25), while acknowledging Washington’s strong distrust of the Hague-based court.
“We recognise that the United States’ distrust of the ICC is very strong and that its stance (over the court) is very tough,” Takaichi said.
Speaking at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo, Takaichi said she had set out Japan’s position directly to US President Donald Trump when they met in New York on Tuesday. She said she told Trump that Japan “has consistently supported and will continue to support” the ICC.
The Trump administration, which is seeking to dismantle the ICC, has designated senior court officials as targets for sanctions, including ICC President Tomoko Akane, a Japanese national.
Trump also used his General Debate address at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday to call on ICC member states to withdraw from the organisation.
Takaichi said Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would communicate on the issue involving the Hague-based court.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
