TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Thursday he had agreed with US president-elect Donald Trump in a phone call to strengthen the nations’ alliance, after the tycoon’s victory sent defense-related shares surging.
Trump’s “America First” approach could mean less cash from Washington for security in the Asia-Pacific region, analysts say — with investors betting on Japan upgrading its own military capacities.
Key allies Japan and the United States are each other’s top foreign investors, and 54,000 US military personnel are stationed in Japan, mostly in Okinawa east of Taiwan.
Ishiba, who took office just over a month ago, said he and Trump hoped to organize a face-to-face meeting “as soon as possible,” describing the president-elect as “very friendly.”
“He is the kind of person I will be able to talk to candidly,” Ishiba told reporters.
“I would like to hold active discussions on the strengthening of the Japan-US alliance from various standpoints including specific equipment, operations and integration, not just money,” he added.
Shares in Japanese defense contractor IHI ended up nearly 20 percent Wednesday, as Trump’s victory began to look secure, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries gained almost 10 percent.
The expectation is “that Trump will demand that allies do more and spend more to defend themselves,” said Claudia Junghyun Kim, an assistant professor of international affairs at City University of Hong Kong.
Japan is already in the process of doubling its military spending to the NATO standard of two percent of GDP.
“This pressure from Trump doesn’t exactly clash with Ishiba’s hope to increase defense spending,” Kim told AFP, and it “should be good news for Japan’s defense industry.”
US elections
When Trump last won a US election in 2016, then-prime minister Shinzo Abe was the first foreign leader to meet the president-elect at his Manhattan skyscraper.
Japanese media said Ishiba could arrange a trip to the United States around the time he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Peru this month.
“On a personal level, Ishiba might be in a challenging position” when he meets Trump, Daisuke Kawai, deputy director of the University of Tokyo’s economic security research program, told AFP.
“Ishiba is a railway enthusiast who doesn’t enjoy golf or social dinners, and unlike Abe, he’s not particularly adept at engaging in social or entertaining conversations. This could mean their personal chemistry may not align well.”
Both Ishiba and Trump perceive the US-Japan alliance as unequal — but in opposite directions — so “initiating productive discussions could be difficult,” Kawai added.
Ishiba led his ruling coalition to a disastrous loss of its majority in snap elections last month.
He is expected to lead a minority government or widen the coalition to include other parties.
Japan and the EU announced a sweeping new security and defense pact on Friday.
Kawai said it was important for Tokyo to build a defense ecosystem “that generates profits through joint production with other countries.”
Japan, which for decades has relied on the United States for military hardware, is also developing a new fighter jet with EU member Italy and Britain set to be airborne by 2035.
Japan PM to boost defense alliance with ‘very friendly’ Trump
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Japan PM to boost defense alliance with ‘very friendly’ Trump
- Key allies Japan and the United States are each other’s top foreign investors
France, Germany, Spain to resume delayed fighter talks, sources say
- A ministerial meeting is planned for the week of November 24
BERLIN/PARIS: France, Germany and Spain are set to resume high-level talks on the next phase of a major fighter project after delays caused by the recent political crisis in France, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
A ministerial meeting is planned for the week of November 24 as the three nations try to bridge differences over the next phase of the Future Combat Air System, which calls for a flying demonstrator model, two of the people said.
A third source said a meeting was planned but that its date had not yet been announced.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is separately due to meet his French counterpart, Catherine Vautrin, in Paris next Monday, two of the sources said.
No comment was immediately available from the three defense ministries involved in the 100-billion-euro project to develop a system of crewed stealth fighters and packs of armed drones.
Pistorius told reporters last week that no new date for a trilateral ministerial meeting had been set, but he reiterated Germany’s call for a decision on the next phase by end-year.
Berlin has blamed French industry for blocking the program’s next phase by demanding sole leadership of the project, in a coded reference to Dassault Aviation.
Dassault, which handles France’s industrial participation in the project while Airbus represents Germany and Spain, has denied reports that it wants to control 80 percent of the project.
Pistorius said last week that he had discussed the topic with France’s Vautrin, who had stated her intention to continue with the project, which is widely known as FCAS, or its French acronym, SCAF.
Speaking ahead of a recent meeting with Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles, Vautrin said there was urgency to move ahead because France’s current Rafale warplanes would need to be replaced by 2040.
