Japan PM says will have 'frank discussions' with Trump

TOKYO

Japan's prime minister said on Nov. 29 he will have "frank discussions" with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, saying that cooperation between was vital to ensuring a "free and open Pacific."

"I will have frank discussions with incoming president Trump and lead the alliance to new heights," Shigeru Ishiba said in parliament in a key policy address.

"Naturally, the U.S. has its own national interest and Japan has its own national interest. That is why I think exchanging opinions frankly and enhancing the national interests of both countries in a synergetic way will help realize a free and open Indo-Pacific," he said.

Beijing has displayed increasingly assertive behavior in territorial disputes in the Asia-Pacific region, including around Taiwan.

China claims the South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars of trade passes annually, almost in its entirety, while Tokyo and Beijing are also at loggerheads over disputed Japan-controlled islands in the East China Sea.

Tokyo is also alarmed by nuclear-armed North Korea's expansion of its missile activities. Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his first term.

Ishiba, a self-confessed defense "geek," has called for the creation of an Asian NATO with its principle of an attack on one being an attack on all.

"The Japan-U.S. security alliance is the foundation of Japan's diplomacy and security," Ishiba said.

"At the same time, however, the United States receives great strategic benefits from the existence of facilities and areas [controlled by] U.S. Forces in Japan," he said.