Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will host South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in her hometown on Tuesday, in a summit meant to stabilize ties between the two sometime-rivals as Japan's worries about Chinese power in Asia grows.
The meeting is part of a swirl of diplomatic activity in a region with growing tensions. A week ago Lee visited China, where leader Xi Jinping sought to cozy up to Seoul amid tensions between Japan and China after Takaichi said in November that potential Chinese military action against Taiwan, the island democracy Beijing claims as its own, could justify Japanese intervention.
