We are also encouraged by recent announcements in Asia, most notably in China and Japan, that governments are strengthening their commitment to solar energy and raising the target for solar power contribution to the national grid capacity.

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This reinvigorated alliance, the president's foreign-policy advisers explain, will not only boost South Korea's global standing but also provide leverage with tricky neighbours, notably Japan and China, where relations are bedevilled by land and history.

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The US has also bolstered its support for its East Asian allies, most notably South Korea and Japan amid maritime rivalries with China in the Pacific.

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