Japan PM to boost defence alliance with ‘very friendly’ Trump

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Thursday he had agreed with US president-elect Donald Trump in a phone call to strengthen the nations’ alliance, after the tycoon’s victory sent defence-related shares surging.

Trump’s “America First” approach could mean less cash from Washington for security in the Asia-Pacific region, analysts say — with investors betting on Japan upgrading its own military capacities.

Key allies Japan and the United States are each other’s top foreign investors, and 54,000 US military personnel are stationed in Japan, mostly in Okinawa east of Taiwan.

Ishiba, who took office just over a month ago, said he and Trump hoped to organise a face-to-face meeting “as soon as possible”, describing the president-elect as “very friendly”.

“He is the kind of person I will be able to talk to candidly,” Ishiba told reporters.

“I would like to hold active discussions on the strengthening of the Japan-US alliance from various standpoints including specific equipment, operations and integration, not just money,” he added.

Shares in Japanese defence contractor IHI ended up nearly 20 percent Wednesday, as Trump’s victory began to look secure, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries gained almost 10 percent.

The expectation is “that Trump will demand that allies do more and spend more to defend themselves”, said Claudia Junghyun Kim, an assistant professor of international affairs at City University of Hong Kong.

Japan is already in the process of doubling its military spending to the NATO standard of two percent of GDP.

“This pressure from Trump doesn’t exactly clash with Ishiba’s hope to increase defence spending,” Kim told AFP, and it “should be good news for Japan’s defence industry”.