Though leaders revealed new guidelines for defense cooperation between Japan and the U.S. during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s eight-day visit to Washington, D.C., this week, they made little progress on advancing the Pacific trade pact.
The new guidelines will give Japan more power in controlling its own safety — particularly with regard to China’s swiftly modernizing military — by allowing for cooperation for the U.S.’s and Japan’s militaries to work together more closely, according to a statement made by President Barack Obama during a joint press conference with Abe.
“For the first time in nearly two decades, we’ve updated the guidelines for our defense cooperation,” Obama said during the press conference. “Together our forces will be more flexible and better prepared to cooperate on a range of challenges, from maritime security to disaster response.”
Obama said that all changes aside, the U.S. will continue to maintain its longtime defense of Japan. “I want to reiterate that our treaty commitment to Japan’s security is absolute, and that Article 5 covers all territories under Japan’s administration, including Senkaku Islands,” he said.
The changes will reinvent Japan’s former pacifist foreign military policies that were formed post-World War II.
“On behalf of Japan and the Japanese people, I offer with profound respect my eternal condolences to the souls of all American people that were lost during World War II,” Abe said to a joint congress on Wednesday.
Also in the works was the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed 12-country regulatory and investment treaty for the Asia-Pacific region, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
While Japan and the U.S., the two largest economies involved in the treaty, did not come to a conclusion about a trade deal, both expressed a determination to push negotiations forward as quickly as possible.
“With respect to trade, we reviewed the progress out teams have made towards the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” said Obama. “I know that the politics around trade can be hard in both our countries, but I know that Prime Minister Abe, like me, is committed to getting this done, and I’m confident we will.”
Picture by Chatham House via Flickr Creative Commons
