The Nikkei Asian Review reported last week that Abe had been preparing for a Hillary Clinton victory, and when he visited the USA in September he didn’t arrange a meeting with Trump, instead he met with the former secretary of state. But it’s too early to declare President Barack Obama’s “pivot” dead.
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Trump’s surprise election win shocked Asia, with leaders and financial markets scrambling to comprehend what exactly a Trump presidency will mean for the region.
“Coming out of the campaign there was the perception that he was going to pull back and not get entangled overseas”, said Sam Crane, a professor of Chinese politics at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Najib and Abe also witnessed the exchange of Memorandum of Cooperation between Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and Malaysian Investment Development Authority and JETRO and Malaysia External Trade Corporation, all taken place at the Prime Minister’s Office here.
Mr Okamoto, a lawmaker with Mr Abe’s junior coalition partner Komeito, met Mr Trump about 16 years ago while working at an investment bank in NY.
U.S. state department officials moved quickly to reassure Japan that the bilateral relationship would remain at the heart of Washington’s policy towards the Asia-Pacific, where Chinese military activity in the South China Sea and North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme have significantly raised tensions.
Abe, during his day-long visit on Monday, is scheduled to meet with Argentine President Mauricio Macri and take part in an economic forum, a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesperson told EFE. He struck a similar tone in a brief conversation with the embattled South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, telling her that he would retain existing security arrangements, which include the presence of 28,500 United States troops south of the heavily armed border dividing the Korean peninsula.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to meet with Mr. Trump Nov. 17 in NY in a bid to undo some recent political fallout.
The very future of free trade will be up for discussion in Lima, analysts say. A new report warns of a leadership vacuum and even a nuclear arms race if the us withdraws from a region threatened by a provocative North Korea.
“Let’s give him two months after he’s inaugurated to see what he’ll do”, Panjaitan said.
At the same time, Prime Minister Abe has sought to warm relations with Russian Federation in the hope that some concessions could be made in regard to the Kurile Islands taken from Japan at the end of World War II.
Can Trump provide them? In particular, apart from sharing their passion for Elvis Presley at Graceland, Bush and Koizumi successfully expanded the scope of the bilateral alliance beyond Northeast Asia, culminating in the Japanese Self-Defense Force’s participation in the US -led war on terror in the Middle East. “I expect he is going to reaffirm his commitments to the alliance and the American commitment to being in the Pacific long-term”.
Uncertainty over the talks shows the difficulties in turning Mr Trump from a freewheeling businessman into a sitting president with a watertight schedule and a fully functioning administration by his inauguration on Jan 20. At present there are 54,000 American military personnel based in Japan, and the East Asian nation has become reliant on American forces to balance the potential threats posed by China and North Korea.
The newspaper said Mr Trump was working without official State Department briefing materials in his dealings with foreign leaders. “That’s how he has lived his life”. Donald Trump has raised the specter of withdrawing USA forces from South Korea and Japan unless they share more of the burden of hosting the 80,000 troops, even as neighboring North Korea has conducted nuclear and missile tests with unprecedented intensity. Still, in a phone call after the election, he told President Park Geun-hye he agrees “100 percent” on the need to deter North Korea.
Trump tweeting about contacts with foreign leaders on such a public forum drew immediate criticism, with conservative political commentator David Frum questioning the wisdom of such posts.
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Trump is expected to use the Abe meeting to reassure Japan and other Asian allies rattled by his campaign rhetoric, advisers to Trump said. “Perceptions are the issue”. Abe says he’ll seek to work “hand-in-hand” with the next commander-in-chief, part of his efforts to deter Trump from pursuing the trade and security policies he espoused in his election campaign.
