Japan PM: ‘I have great confidence in Trump’

Japanese and Trump transition officials said the meeting was an opportunity for the leaders to get to know one another.

Despite the faultlines, the Trump camp made positive noises ahead of the meeting with Abe. “I firmly believe that we can build a trustful relationship”, he said.

Mr Trump has said Japan needs to pay more to maintain United States troops on its soil.

President Barack Obama’s outgoing administration had hoped to bind its friends on the Pacific Rim – Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam – into the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

Whereas many presidential candidates have proposed major changes in Asia strategy, most have done so while reassuring US allies that Washington “doesn’t want to tip over the whole apple cart of the post-World War Two global worldwide order”, Schoff says.

Moreover, the prime minister is concerned about Mr. Trump’s commitment to protecting Japan.

However, currently, the U.S is in a US-Japan security alliance, which is the reason behind the anxiety of the Japanese prime minister, amongst others.

Such comments have anxious Japan at a time when the threat from North Korea is rising, and China is challenging the US -led security status quo in the Pacific. Trump is willing to withdraw troops is due to the high-cost.

Two-thirds of respondents to a poll published by Fuji News Network on Monday said Trump’s election wouldn’t be good for US-Japan relations, compared with about 17% who took the opposite stance.

Retired general Michael Flynn, 57, who headed the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) between 2012 and 2014, but left due to conflicts with USA personnel and administration, could be appointed National Security Advisor, According to media reports.

Mr. Abe afterward said their meeting at Trump Tower convinced him that the president-elect was a leader “with whom I can have great confidence in”. State Department spokesman John Kirby says officials stand ready and willing to offer any briefing materials to the Trump team, but so far, there just haven’t been any calls. Tokyo now spends $1.7bn (£1.3bn) on their support, including the costs of running USA bases, which are unpopular with many in Okinawa where most are located. Although that constitution has been weakened by Abe, a nationalist who wants to bolster his country’s defense forces, the Japanese population remains deeply opposed to nuclear weapons, as the only people in the world ever to have been attacked with them.

Trump has vowed to drop a Pacific trade deal and accused Japan of manipulating its currency. For Japanese leader, the main concern is likely to be Beijing’s increasingly aggressive tone towards territory Japan controls but which China also claims.

Mr Trump’s dealings so far with foreign leaders have drawn criticism for their ad-hoc approach, with reports that numerous calls have been conducted casually and without briefings. About 50,000 United States military personnel are stationed in Japan, and the two countries are one another’s second-largest trading partners.