By The White House
Via Conference Call
2:35 P.M. EST
MR. RHODES: Thanks, everybody, for getting on the call. I have with me Danny Russel, the Senior Director for Asia here at the NSC; and Mike Froman, the Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics. We're just going to talk through the agenda for the President’s meeting tomorrow with Prime Minister Abe of Japan.
I would just note a number of things. As you know, the U.S. focus on Asia has been a priority of the President's since he came into office. The very first visitor he hosted — foreign visitor he hosted here at the White House was the Prime Minister of Japan at the time. He’s had subsequent meetings with his Japanese counterparts on numerous occasions.
This will be his first opportunity to host Prime Minister Abe, and it underscores the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance as the foundation of U.S. strategy in Asia, both in terms of our security posture and in terms of our economic relationships in that dynamic and growing region of the world.
So this meeting is a further symbol of the President's commitment to the U.S.-Japan alliance as a cornerstone of U.S. economic and security policy, and as a cornerstone of the U.S.-Asia policy. And the two leaders will have the chance tomorrow to meet, to speak to the press, and to share a meal together, as well.
With that, I'll hand it over to Danny to speak to the agenda a bit, and then Mike can speak to the economic elements, as well.
MR. RUSSEL: Thank you very much, Ben. And thanks to all of you for taking the time to talk through the visit of Prime Minister Abe of Japan with us.
To build out the context that Ben Rhodes just provided, the President has always placed a very high priority on the U.S.-Japan relationship and alliance, which is a key pillar of the President's Asia rebalancing strategy. And as Ben alluded to, the President has held just in the first term about a dozen meetings with the Japanese Prime Minister. He's already spoke twice to Prime Minister Abe — first, shortly after Prime Minister Abe won the election, but also in a substantive discussion in the aftermath of North Korea's nuclear test.
So in some ways, this visit brings us full circle in the sense that, as Ben Rhodes just mentioned, the first leader to be received by the President in the Oval Office in 2009 was the Japanese Prime Minister. In fact, it was then-Prime Minister Aso, who’s now serving as the Deputy Prime Minister in the Abe government.
And that took place almost literally four years ago, practically to the day. The first visit was just weeks after President Obama first took office, just as his visit is a matter of weeks since the President was inaugurated for his second term. In between, in addition to the election held here, Japan has experienced two dramatic changes …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House Press Office
