Luncheon Meeting with Mr. Koji Tomita

TOKYO, JAPAN - A luncheon meeting was held in a conference room of WTC Tokyo and Mr. Tomita, Director-General of North American Affairs Bureau of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, discussed the Japan-US relationship.

The followings is a brief summary of his speech:

President Obama visited Japan as a state guest, and it was a significant opportunity for Japan to give a strong impression to President Obama through the Japanese formal way of welcoming guests, including a welcome ceremony by the Emperor and Empress. This the first visit by a US President to Japan as a state guest in the past 18 years. He added that US and Japan pledged to play a leading role in Asia-Pacific region, but certain conditions need to be met to establish a successful alliance.
First, the Japan-US Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security should be solid enough. On this point, it is confirmed that ‘these commitments extend to all the territories under the administration of Japan, including the Senkaku Islands’ in the joint statement. Secondly, the United States and Japan should keep good relations with other countries in the region. The United States is now focusing on Asia as the important region of its foreign strategy and President Obama visited South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines, other than Japan. Thirdly, the leadership of both countries should show some concrete outcome, and here progress of TPP is very important. President Obama and Prime Minister Abe agreed to postpone the scheduled announcement of joint statement to the last moment during President Obama’s stay in Japan, in order to continue TPP negotiation.

After the speech, Mr. Tomita expressed his views on the matter:

He said, ‘We have to recognize the fact that President Obama is the first president of African American President, and that he was elected with a strong message to end wars. Thus, the Obama administration tends to put priority on internal matters such as health insurance, rather than foreign affairs. Evaluation for Obama administration is low these days and getting the support of Congress is not easy for him. As an important ally, Japan needs to support the United States.

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