Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to attend the NATO summit to be held in late June in Madrid, where It would be the first attendance by a Japanese head of government at a meeting of the Western military alliance in a historic shift prompted by the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Pacific.

Kishida’s visit to Madrid on June 29-30 will depend primarily on the domestic political situation in his country, which will hold elections on July 10 to elect representatives to the House of Councilors (Upper House), Japanese government sources cited by the official local news agency, Kyodo News.

The NATO summit calendar clashes with the start of the official election campaign on June 22reported the Europa Press news agency.

It is expected that the possible participation of Japan, a country which in its Constitution has renounced the possession of an army and wars as a means of resolving conflicts, will strengthen coordination with the United States and the European countries regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine. to possible contingencies over the Taiwan Strait, said the same sources.

Kishida will be in Germany on that date, where he will attend the G7 summit, which begins on June 26.reported the Sputnik news agency.

Its possible participation in the NATO summit after that of the G7 (in which Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom participate), with the partners of which Tokyo maintains the same line, will be the sign of a greater Solidarity of Japan with the West.

In addition, Japan will be able to discuss with Western countries its concerns regarding China and North Korea.

Australia, New Zealand and South Korea have also been invited to attend the NATO summit as partner countries in the Asia-Pacific region.