By Rocky Swift
TOKYO (Reuters) – The United States and Japan need to work together to align their defence forces in the face of an increasingly assertive China, new U.S. Ambassador George Glass said upon his arrival in Tokyo on Friday.
“We sit with Japan in a very tough neighbourhood. You have Russia, you have China, and you have North Korea,” Glass told reporters at Haneda airport, adding the allies needed to “push back against a country like China”.
China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the remarks.
Japan is home to the biggest overseas deployment of U.S. troops globally as well as squadrons of fighter jets and Washington’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier strike group.
In recent years, Tokyo has also embarked on a historic military build-up and begun various projects with Washington to better align their forces and defence industries.
Trump’s equivocation over support for Ukraine in its war with Russia and complaints about the cost of defence alliances has stoked concern about U.S. commitment to its security partnerships globally, however.
Glass said Washington was focused on the safety of American and Japanese citizens and in making sure the military had all the support and materials it needs to counter threats from Beijing.
Trump hand-picked him partly due to his success in pushing back against China’s “predatory habits” during his previous post as envoy to Portugal from 2017-2021, he said.
At his confirmation hearing in March, Glass said he would however need to push Japan to pay more towards the cost of U.S. military support.
Trump wants negotiations on these costs to be included in ongoing trade talks triggered by his sweeping import tariffs on dozens of countries including Japan. Tokyo wants to keep the issues separate.
Glass said he was “extremely optimistic” that the U.S. would strike a deal with Japan. More than 75 countries have reached out for talks since the administration unveiled the tariffs earlier this month, Washington says.
(Reporting by Rocky Swift and Chang-Ran Kim; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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