US Defence Secretary James Mattis said yesterday that the United States stands “100 percent” with Japan on a visit to reassure Asian allies rattled by President Donald Trump’s isolationist rhetoric. Mattis spoke in Tokyo on the first overseas tour by a senior Trump administration official, as concerns rise about the direction of US policy in the region under the protectionist and fiery leader.
He arrived earlier in the day from Seoul, where he warned nuclear-armed North Korea that any attacks by their forces would be met with an “effective and overwhelming” response.
Japan and the US have a decades long security alliance and US-South Korea military ties date back to the 1950-53 Korean War. But on the campaign trail, Trump threatened to withdraw US forces if they do not step up their financial support. Some 28,500 US troops are based in South Korea to defend it against the North, and 47,000 in Japan.
“We stand firmly, 100%, shoulder-to-shoulder with you and (the) Japanese people,” Mattis told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “I wanted to make certain that Article Five of our mutual defence treaty is understood to be as real to us today as it was a year ago, five years ago and it will be a year and 10 years from now,” he added in remarks at the start of their meeting.
Article five commits each country to repel attacks against the other in Japan or territories it administers. The US has said that includes the uninhabited islands in the East China Sea administered by Japan but also claimed by China.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters after his separate meeting with Mattis that the US defence chief also reconfirmed that commitment.
On the campaign trail, Trump also raised the possibility of Japan and South Korea arming themselves with nuclear weapons, particularly sensitive in Japan — the only country to ever be attacked by atomic bombs — but later drew back from the remarks.
“I do have a hope, and also I am convinced, together with you and President Trump we will be able to demonstrate the unwavering alliance between Japan and the United State both to the public inside Japan as well as outside Japan,” said Abe, who is set to hold a summit with Trump next week in the US.
Abe has repeatedly argued that Japan bears an appropriate share of the costs of the alliance, which he stresses benefits the US, Japan and the broader region. A senior South Korean defence ministry official told reporters that defence cost sharing did not come up at Mattis’ meeting his South Korean counterpart Han Min-koo.
Japanese media, meanwhile, reported that Mattis also made no mention of base support costs to Abe. Mattis’ visit comes amid heightened fears over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, a major concern for both South Korea and Japan.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis (left) and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe shake hands at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo yesterday.
