Talking about Agenda of Japan-US Summit

Since Donald Trump won the US Presidential election, the question has been when Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba would have a meeting with Trump. Now, Ishiba got an appointment to meet Trump on February 7th. Then, new question is what does Ishiba talk about in the meeting. As Ishiba consult with his staffs to build agenda for his trip to US, there are a lot of speculations about the issue between the leaders of Japan and the United States.

The opposition parties are skeptical about Ishiba’s capability of building close relationship with Trump who kept on saying that he would demand further contribution of the allies defended by US, or impose tariffs on foreign goods to protect US interest. In the discussion over FY 2025 budget in the Committee for Budget of the House of Representatives, the opposition leaders asked Ishiba what is prime minister’s strategy for the summit meeting with Trump.

 

“I think that the concept of rule of law or Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) is shared by Japan and the US. There is no difference between them,” answered Ishiba in the discussion of the budget committee. Ishiba insisted that he would also share a notion that no change of status quo by force would be tolerated.

 

“Rule of law” and “no change of status quo by force” are the usual phrase when Japan accuses China of its coercive advance in Asia-Pacific region, including Taiwan, South and East China Sea. Recognizing friendship between Trump and former prime minister Shinzo Abe, Ishiba quoted the term of FOIP which had been a favorite phrase of Abe to deal with Chinese advance.

 

Ishiba is trying to perform his stance of saying what he needs to say to Trump, even if it may not attract the president. “No change of status quo by force” can be said about Trump’s pressure to some countries and regions to expand US interest, such as his assertion about Canada to be US fifty-first state, taking back Panama Canal, or purchasing Greenland.

 

Ishiba does not insist on his own agenda he raised in his presidential campaign of the Liberal Democratic Party last fall. “I will make necessary effort to stabilize Japan-US alliance with verifying how Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement has been improved,” said Ishiba. He no longer refers to his idea of building Asian version of North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

 

Instead, Ishiba is more focusing on economic issues. It is likely that Ishiba will agree with Trump on cooperation in development of AI technology. Ishiba welcomed cooperation between Softbank and OpenAI, when he invited their leaders to his office, Masayoshi Son and Sam Altman. Ishiba is going to explain that he would promote national interests of both Japan and US through maintaining free trade without excessive tariffs on Japanese goods.

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