• Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Okinawa express concern

Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japanese Foreign Minister IWAYA Takeshi on Wednesday sent a congratulatory letter to JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate in the US presidential election.

Iwaya congratulated the Vice President-elect on his success and stated that the Japan-US Alliance is the cornerstone of Japan’s diplomacy and security, and it will continue to be the indispensable foundation of peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

Iwaya also said he would like to work closely with Vice President-elect Vance and President-elect Trump to further strengthen the Japan-US Alliance and to realize a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.

Others in Japan raised concerns. These included Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb victims and residents of Okinawa, home to many US military bases.

They worried about the future of nuclear disarmament and US-China relations. Okinawa Prefecture is home to 70 percent of ​​US military facilities in Japan and locals fear strengthening of the US-Japan Alliance will mean greater hardship for the residents of Okinawa.

If the situation in East Asia becomes unstable, Okinawa will become even more important militarily.

In the 2016 presidential election, Trump mentioned the possibility of withdrawing US troops from Japan, but there was no major change. Trump even asked Japan to increase its share of the costs of stationing US troops in Japan.