Trump Muses Privately About Ending Postwar Japan Defense Pact

The USS John S. McCain destroyer at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

It is well known that the US president, Donald Trump, always causes a stir and is usually in the headlines in various nations. Their acts and decisions always give of what to speak. Now, Trump is talking privately about the completion of the post-war Japan defense pact. In fact, the president wants compensation for the movement of the Okinawa Marine base. While for its part, Japan says that there has been talking of reviewing the alliance

That being the case, Trump recently made reference to confidants about withdrawing from an old defense treaty with Japan, according to three people familiar with the matter, in his latest complaint about what he considers unfair US security pacts.

This way, Trump considers that the agreement is too partial because he promises the help of the United States if Japan is attacked, but does not force the Japanese military to defend the United States, said the people. The treaty, signed more than 60 years ago, forms the basis of the alliance between the countries that emerged from the Second World War.

Even so…

It is important to say that even so, Trump has not taken any steps to withdraw from the treaty, and administration officials said that such a move is highly unlikely. All the people asked not to be identified discussing Trump’s private conversations. While Trump’s repeated criticisms of security pacts around the world have alarmed Seoul’s allies in Paris, he has not moved to withdraw from such agreements as he has with trade agreements.

It is worth noting that leaving the agreement would endanger a postwar alliance that has helped guarantee security in the Asia Pacific, laying the foundations for the economic boom in the region. In this way, under the terms of its surrender in World War II, Japan accepted a pacifist constitution in which it renounced the right to wage war.

For his part, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday that the security framework was the core of the country’s alliance with the United States. “There is no talk at all of a review of the Japan-U.S. security alliance as has been reported in the media. “

Consequently, it would risk giving up the security of the Western Pacific to China and potentially generating a new nuclear arms race if Japan decided that it needed to protect itself from nuclear-armed neighbors.

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Source: Jennifer Jacobs | Bloomberg