TOKYO (Kyodo) -- As the first member of the Cabinet of U.S. President Donald Trump to visit Japan, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis reassured Tokyo that the bilateral alliance is firm in the face of North Korean threats and Chinese maritime assertiveness.
But Tokyo still may not feel at ease as many uncertainties exist about Trump's "America First" agenda and his confrontational rhetoric toward even close allies.
"It was a very good meeting. I think it was a big success," a Japanese Defense Ministry official said after talks Saturday between Defense Minister Tomomi Inada and Mattis at the end of the Pentagon chief's two-day visit.
"The two countries agreed fully on all kinds of issues," the official said. "The defense chiefs were able to build trust with each other and I expect it to continue."
Through a series of meetings in Tokyo, Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, offered all the key security reassurances that Tokyo was waiting to hear from the Trump administration, including the U.S. commitment to defend the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which China also claims.
There was also what the Japanese official called a happy "surprise" as Mattis praised Japan at a press conference Saturday as "a model" of burden-sharing over the costs of stationing U.S. forces in the country. During the presidential campaign, Trump had portrayed Japan as a free-rider on security.
But some experts said the Japanese government must still worry whether the assurances offered by Mattis truly reflect what will be Trump administration policy toward Japan.
"There will always be concerns" that promises may be reversed by Trump, said Kazuhiro Maeshima, a Sophia University professor specializing in American government and foreign policy.
Read the full story at The Mainichi