Ex-Japanese prime minister Taro Aso has met former president Donald Trump and both the leaders discussed the enduring importance of the US-Japan alliance to their physical and economic security in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.

Aso, vice president of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, met Trump on Tuesday at the Trump Tower in Manhattan.

Both the leaders discussed the enduring importance of the US-Japan alliance to both countries’ physical and economic security and stability in the Indo-Pacific, according to a statement issued by the Trump Campaign on the meeting with the 83-year-old visiting Japanese leader.

“They also discussed challenges posed by China and North Korea. President Trump praised Japan’s increased defence spending,” the press release said after the meeting.

“He’s a highly respected man in Japan and beyond and somebody that I’ve liked and I’ve known through our very dear friend Shinzo,” Trump, the 77-year-old presumptive nominee of the Republican Party in the 2024 US presidential race, told reporters in New York.

The Trump-Aso meeting comes after US President Joe Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this month at the White House for a state visit, during which the president touted the US-Japan alliance as being “stronger than it’s ever been” and announced new plans for military cooperation with the country.

The meeting between Trump and Aso took place after the former president’s appearance in court for his hush money trial. Trump has in recent weeks increasingly met with foreign leaders, who have sought to bolster ties as polls continue to show a tight race to the White House between him and President Biden when the elections take place in November.

Japan has been at the centre of Biden’s alliance-building in the Indo-Pacific region, with Kishida significantly shifting the country’s defence posture in recent years and providing ongoing support to Ukraine, CNN reported.

Last week, Trump met with Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower, where the two discussed NATO spending over dinner, according to the former president’s campaign.

Earlier this month, Trump also met with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the report added.

In March, the former president hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago and spoke separately by phone with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, it said.