Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he believes Donald Trump is a leader in whom he can have great confidence after meeting with the president-elect Thursday.
France 24, Nov. 18, 2016 – Abe, who became the first world leader to meet with Trump since his election, was seeking reassurances over the future of U.S.-Japan security and trade relations.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with US President-elect Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump
He described the meeting as “really, really cordial” but offered few details of their discussion.
“I do believe that without confidence between the two nations (the) alliance would never function in the future and as an outcome of today’s discussion I am convinced Mr.
Trump is a leader with whom I can have great confidence in,” Abe said at a press conference following the meeting, where he took only two questions.
Abe said the meeting renewed his conviction that he would be able to establish a relationship of confidence with Trump.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives at a press conference after a meeting with US president-elect Donald Trump on November 17, 2016 in New York.
Abe met with Trump in New York, where the incoming president is working on setting up an administration after his surprise election victory last week that has injected new uncertainty into old U.S. alliances. The Trump transition team provided no readout of the meeting.
Trump’s campaign rhetoric caused consternation in many world capitals, including Tokyo. He has said he would demand that allies such as Japan and South Korea contribute more to the cost of basing U.S. troops in their countries.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets Donald Trump at Trump Tower, along with his daughter
Such comments have worried Japan at a time when the threat from North Korea is rising, and China is challenging the U.S.-led security status quo in the Pacific.
The State Department has said it had yet to hear from Trump’s transition team, raising the prospect of the Republican holding the meeting with Abe without any input from career diplomats with deep experience dealing with Japan.
Japan PM has ‘great confidence’ in Trump after meeting
“I conveyed my basic views on various issues to Mr. Trump but with regard to more of the specifics or details, because of the fact that Mr. Trump has not assumed the office as the president of the United States or today’s discussion was an unofficial discussion, I’d like to refrain from touching on details,” Abe said, adding that they agreed to meet again for a deeper discussion on a wider range of issues.
Both Japan and South Korea already pay considerable sums to support the U.S. bases and note that it’s also in America’s strategic interest to deploy troops in the region.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, meets U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in New York on Nov. 17.
