MANILA - Japan will seek clarification on President Rodrigo Duterte's foreign policy after he announced that he was cutting economic and military ties with the United States, an embassy official said Friday.

Tokyo will host Duterte on an official visit next week to firm up bilateral relations with the Philippine leader saying he had "realigned" himself with Japan's rival China.

"We will discuss, we like to listen to what President Duterte (will) explain to our leaders about (the) foreign policy of his administration," Atsushi Ueno, deputy chief of mission of the Japanese Embassy, said in a press conference.

Japan is "worried" that the Philippines is veering away from their alliance with the United States, a move that would affect Tokyo's interests in the region, said Jay Batongbacal, director of the UP Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.

Like Manila, Tokyo is caught in its own territorial dispute with Beijing over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

"With what the President is doing, I would assume that the Japanese are worried that there is now a clear dissonance in what the two countries are doing, a clear divergence in their strategies and their policies towards (the US)," Batongbacal told ABS-CBN News.

Before business leaders in Beijing, Duterte announced "my separation from the United States, both in military but economic also."

"Japan will want clarification as to the Philippine intentions with respect to the United States, especially on the security side that affects Japan greatly," Batongbacal said.

In Tokyo, Duterte will also tackle security, economic and defense cooperation with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said Assistant Communications Secretary Ana Marie Banaag.

Banaag said development projects in Mindanao would also be on the agenda.

Duterte will visit the Japan Marine United Cooperation in Yokohama City where the next batch of coast guard vessels to be delivered to the Philippines under a loan agreement are being kept.