President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledged to tighten security cooperation and increase defense funding as they visited the aircraft carrier USS George Washington at a US naval base south of Tokyo, an event designed to underscore ties between the countries.
“The cherished alliance between the United States and Japan is one of the most remarkable relationships in the entire world, really,” Trump said at the event at the Yokosuka Naval Base, the home of the US Seventh Fleet.
The US president said he had just approved the first “batch of missiles” for Japan’s F-35 fighters.
Takaichi said her nation was “committed to fundamentally reinforce its defense capabilities, and Japan is ready to contribute even more proactively to peace and stability of the region.”
“We are facing an unprecedented severe security environment,” she said. “Peace cannot be preserved by words alone.”
Trump’s trade war, which has targeted allies such as Japan as well as rivals, has created some nervousness in Tokyo about its relationship with Washington. Japan still leans heavily on the US for its security under a treaty signed after the two sides fought each other during World War II.
The treaty gives the US use of military bases in Japan — key assets in Washington’s ability to project power throughout the Asia-Pacific region. However, Trump has said the agreement is unfair because it obliges the US to defend Japan without a reciprocal commitment from Japan to help protect the US.
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