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On November 3, 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a press conference at Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport).
 
Regarding his attendance to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-related Summit Meetings and other events, the Prime Minister said,
 
“For the last seven years, Japan has driven global free trade as a standard-bearer for free trade, such as the TPP11 Agreement (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) and the Japan-EU (European Union) EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement) as well as the Japan-U.S. Trade Agreement. With respect to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Japan has taken the lead in negotiations over those seven years, aiming to conclude an ambitious agreement that not merely lowers tariffs, but also sets rules on issues such as electronic commerce and intellectual property.
 
As great progress has been made, especially in the field of such rule setting, negotiations are reaching the final phase. While there are several issues to be addressed, Japan intends to continue leading the negations in order to create an economic zone based on free and fair rules that covers a wide region from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean.
 
Concerning the South China Sea issue, Japan intends to strongly emphasize the importance of all parties peacefully resolving disputes according to international law, not through force, in order to protect the free and open maritime order based on the rule of law.
 
With regard to the issue of North Korea, it continues to repeatedly launch ballistic missiles. Japan intends to emphasize that it is extremely important and necessary for the international community to firmly come together and implement the UN resolutions now, towards the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and urge respective leaders to agree on and implement that.
 
I also intend to emphasize the importance of an early resolution of the abductions issue, and obtain understanding and support for that.”