Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba emphasized the importance of close ties with the United States for regional stability during a policy speech on January 24. As he seeks to arrange a meeting with President Donald Trump, Ishiba highlighted the need to deepen Japan-US cooperation amidst historic changes in the regional balance of power.
Ishiba stressed that Tokyo must continue to secure the US commitment to the region to avoid a power vacuum that could lead to instability. His comments underscored concerns over China’s military build-up in the Asia-Pacific and Trump’s “America First” policies, which may include demanding that allies like Japan shoulder a larger proportion of defense costs.
“Japan-US leadership is essential to strengthen the free and open Indo-Pacific by establishing multi-layered security networks including Japan-US-Australia-India, Japan-US-South Korea, and Japan-US-Philippines,” Ishiba added. He expressed his desire to share understanding with Trump on security and economic issues at a forthcoming Japan-US summit, which could take place as early as next month in the US.
Ishiba had a brief telephone call with then-president-elect Trump in November and reportedly sought to meet with him in January before his inauguration, but this did not happen. However, Trump hosted Mrs. Akie Abe, the widow of Japan’s assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe, for a private dinner with his wife Melania Trump at their Florida residence in December.
In the same month, Masayoshi Son, head of Japanese tech investment giant SoftBank, stood beside Trump to announce a $100 billion investment in the US. Son attended Trump’s inauguration this week, followed by an announcement that SoftBank would lead a $500 billion project to build AI infrastructure in the US along with cloud giant Oracle and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.