Japan’s Foreign Minister gets flak for skipping G-20 Delhi meeting

Japan was the only country without its foreign minister, Mr Yoshimasa Hayashi, at the G-20 meeting from March 1 to 2.

Mr Yoshimasa Hayashi was required to attend the Diet session, where he was asked just one question.

PHOTO: AFP

Walter Sim

TOKYO – The 53 seconds that kept Japan’s top diplomat Yoshimasa Hayashi at home instead of attending the recent Group of 20 (G-20) foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi was a diplomatic own goal that has invited much ridicule.

Japan was without its foreign minister at the G-20 meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, which was attended by such diplomats as the United States’ Antony Blinken, China’s Qin Gang and Russia’s Sergey Lavrov.

See more on

Japan

Politics and government

Diplomacy

G-20 (Group of 20)