Japan's Abe to Address Security Alliance at Meeting With Trump

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, ahead of a meeting with Donald Trump in New York, said he wants to establish an understanding with the president-elect about the Japanese-U.S. security alliance, which Mr. Abe said is vital to Japanese security.

"This is an alliance that lives and breathes only when there is trust, and it is precisely that relationship of trust which I would like to build with President-elect Trump," Mr. Abe said before leaving Japan.

Japanese and Trump transition officials said the meeting wasn't a "full-fledged" gathering but an opportunity for the leaders to get to know one another. A Japanese official said the sides didn't exchange agendas and talking points, as they would in a formal summit.

Mr. Trump rattled officials in Tokyo and elsewhere during the campaign when he suggested that Japan may need to obtain its own nuclear weapons, rather than be protected by the U.S. nuclear umbrella, and said allies must pay more to support U.S. troops in their countries or risk their removal. The U.S. has approximately 54,000 troops in Japan.

Japanese officials say Mr. Abe hopes to convey that Tokyo already bears a significant portion of the cost—more than $5 billion annually by one measure—and that the alliance benefits the U.S. as much as Japan by keeping the peace in the world's most economically dynamic region.

Mr. Abe last week planned his stop in New York as part of a previously scheduled trip to Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. President Barack Obama will attend that summit, after a visit to Germany.

Japan relies heavily on exports to the U.S.: both goods shipped directly and Chinese-made goods such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone, that are packed with Japanese-made parts.

The lower house of Japan's Parliament ratified the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal shortly after the U.S. election, even though Mr. Trump has said he opposes the deal. Mr. Abe is now aiming to get final parliamentary passage of the TPP soon. While he has acknowledged that its short-term prospects are slim, he has said he believes the TPP still has life under the next U.S. administration—a view with which few outside observers agree.

Mr. Trump hasn't yet been in contact with officials at the State Department, National Security Council or Pentagon about his visit with Mr. Abe, and the president-elect had no briefing materials from them ahead of his meeting with Mr. Abe.

"There's been no outreach to date," State Department spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday. "We stand ready to support him and his team with any information that they might require, either in advance of or on the back end of these conversations."

Kellyanne Conway, Mr. Trump's campaign manager and a top adviser, said Thursday that Mr. Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will meet Mr. Abe at 5 p.m.

The Trump transition team likely won't release a statement out of the meeting to be deferential to President Barack Obama, who is on his last foreign trip.

Damian Paletta and Peter Landers contributed to this article

Write to Felicia Schwartz at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 17, 2016 15:15 ET (20:15 GMT)

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