Ishiba to Pledge Continued Purchase of U.S. Defense Equipment
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Tokyo, Feb. 4 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is expected to tell U.S. President Donald Trump at their first summit in Washington on Friday that Japan will continue to buy U.S. defense equipment, hoping to impress Trump with Japan's contribution.
Ishiba will also outline Japan's efforts to drastically strengthen its defense capabilities. The two leaders plan to issue a joint statement vowing a stronger Japan-U.S. alliance.
Ahead of his three-day visit to the United States from Thursday, Ishiba told a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, on Tuesday that there is "a mountain of issues" for the two countries to tackle, citing security, tariffs and the situations in the Middle East and Ukraine.
"I want to achieve results in a limited time by setting priorities," the prime minister said.
Trump has claimed that U.S. allies and like-minded nations are getting a free ride on his country's military might. He has already demanded that NATO members spend 5 pct of their gross domestic product on defense. Among his aides, there are emerging calls for Japan to boost defense spending to about 3 pct of its GDP.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]