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Asia Minute: Japan’s Prime Minister Wraps Asia Tour with an Eye on Washington

Foreign and Commonwealth Office / Flickr
Foreign and Commonwealth Office / Flickr

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returns to Japan today following nearly a week of travels around the Asia Pacific. Abe traveled to several countries, and the timing of his trip has a direct connection to political events here in the United States. HPR’s Bill Dorman explains in today’s Asia Minute.

It’s been less than three weeks since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid his respects at the Arizona Memorial with President Obama.

The timing of Abe’s latest travels in the Asia Pacific is likely not a coincidence—wrapping less than a week before inauguration day puts Donald Trump in the White House.

The Prime Minister visited the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Japan Today quotes a senior Japanese official as saying the trips are in part “aimed at reaffirming the importance of the U.S. alliance network in the Asia-Pacific region.”

That reference to U.S. allies comes as the many questions about a Trump Administration include policy in the Asia Pacific.

As for Abe and regional leaders, in Manila, there were discussions about fighting the drug trade and funding infrastructure.

In Australia, increased defense ties dominated headlines.  Infrastructure projects took the lead in Jakarta…and Vietnam was a combination of the two—including Japan’s providing half a dozen maritime patrol boats that are likely to wind up in the South China Sea.

There were no direct mentions of Donald Trump—nor of China--but one Japanese official told reporters Japan wants to promote regional coordination “at a time when uncertainties are increasing in the political, security and economic fields.”

Bill Dorman has been the news director at Hawaiʻi Public Radio since 2011.
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