President Joe Biden is dispatching White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan to Tokyo this week for talks with his counterparts from Japan, Philippines and South Korea. Sullivan will also take part in “the first-ever trilateral meeting of the Japanese, Philippine, and US national security advisers” while in Japan, the White House National Security Council said in a statement on Tuesday.
The White House offered scant details about Sullivan’s two-day visit that begins Thursday, saying Sullivan and his counterparts “will discuss ways to deepen collaboration on a number of key regional and global issues”. Sullivan’s visit comes after US, Japanese and Philippine coast guard ships staged law enforcement drills in waters near the disputed South China Sea earlier this month.