Japanese premier says stronger alliance with US is key to regional stability, seeks to meet Trump

By MARI YAMAGUCHI The Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Tuesday strengthening his country’s alliance with the United States is key to regional security and expressed his desire to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

This comes amid worries about China’s increasingly assertive military activity, including violation of Japanese airspace and territorial waters and joint military drills with Russia around Japan, and North Korea’s repeated test-firings of ballistic missiles as part of its nuclear and missile development programs.

Ishiba leads a minority government following a significant election loss in October due to voter anger over his party’s financial scandals.

“I hope to hold talks with President-elect Trump as early as possible so that we can elevate the Japan-U.S. alliance to even higher levels,” Ishiba told a news conference Tuesday marking the end of this year’s parliamentary session.

“In order to further elevate the Japan-U.S. alliance … it is important to share a common view about the situation in Northeast Asia,” Ishiba said.

Ishiba earlier had sought to have a meeting with Trump soon after his victory in the U.S. presidential race in November. However, the prime minister said he was told that meetings with world leaders before Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration were restricted under U.S. law.

Still, when Trump met last week with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a dinner, he conveyed a willingness to meet the Japanese leader around mid-January, Ishiba said. Abe had close ties with the president-elect.

No specific details have been set, but officials are working on it as Trump hopes to find “an appropriate timing,” according to Ishiba.

At home, the prime minister faces tough negotiations with the opposition — a major change for his Liberal Democratic Party’s ruling coalition that has long forced through its favored legislation by taking advantage of its dominance in parliament, a practice set by Abe and which critics labeled autocratic.

Ishiba on Tuesday said he did his utmost to listen to opposition voices and form as broad consensus as possible on political reform legislation and supplementary budget plan.

Ishiba also promised to accelerate discussion on the possibility of allowing married couples an option to keep both of their surnames by changing the current law requiring one surname per household.

The rule has forced the majority of women to adopt their husbands’ surnames, triggering criticism in Japan and abroad for being gender-biased.

Most opposition lawmakers and even a powerful business organization now support the surname policy change, which has been blocked for decades by LDP conservatives.