Overview
- Takaichi, who met Vietnam’s leaders Saturday in Hanoi, signed six cooperation deals and named economic security the new focus of the partnership.
- Japan will use its $10 billion Power Asia program to help arrange crude for Vietnam’s Nghi Son refinery to keep fuel running as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains constrained.
- In a Hanoi speech, she refreshed the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy and vowed a more active role to safeguard open sea routes and cut dependence on single suppliers.
- Japan disclosed Saturday it will take a Sakhalin‑2 crude shipment from Russia, a Taiyo Oil purchase that diversifies supply and sits outside U.S. and EU sanctions.
- She arrived in Canberra for talks with Anthony Albanese that aim to cement the special strategic partnership and could yield a supply‑chain pact on rare earths, energy and food.