By David Brunnstrom
(Reuters) -Less than two months before a closely fought U.S. election, Japan’s outgoing prime minister, Fumio Kishida, on Monday reiterated a call for continued U.S. involvement and leadership in East Asia and the world.
Kishida, who is not contesting a Japanese ruling party leadership election this week, told an event hosted by Bloomberg in New York that the foundation of the international order was being challenged in various parts of the world, including by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
He said he had made every effort in office to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance and reinforce Japan’s defense capabilities “and to defend the free and open international order based on the rule of law.”
“What kind of future do we intend to hand down to our children and grandchildren? It is not a world where freedom is restricted and the will of the people is suppressed,” he said.
“It should be a safe and peaceful society based on freedom and democracy, which the United States has played a leading role in building since the end of World War Two,” Kishida said. “Today, East Asia and the rest of the world need U.S. involvement and leadership. This is also for the U.S.’s own national interest.”
Kishida is in the United States for this week’s U.N. General Assembly and ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election that pits Vice President Kamala Harris against U.S. President Donald Trump, who has sometimes questioned the value of U.S. alliances and U.S. support for Ukraine.
On Saturday, Kishida joined U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of Australia and India in the so-called Quad forum to announce joint security steps in Asia’s trade-rich waters in the face of growing challenges from China.
Kishida’s remarks on Monday reprised a speech he gave to the U.S. Congress in April in which he said Ukraine risked collapsing under Russia’s onslaught without U.S. support, which could embolden China and spark a new crisis in East Asia.
In that speech, Kishida urged Americans not to doubt the country’s “indispensable” role in world affairs, and said Tokyo was undertaking historic military upgrades under his leadership to support its ally.
Later on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted a trilateral meeting in New York with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and their South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul.
Blinken noted at the start of the meeting the impending U.S. and Japanese political transitions and said the intensified trilateral cooperation championed by Biden, Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol “will remain vital to the future of all three of our countries.”
Kishida, who was speaking at an event featuring leading U.S. asset managers, repeated a call for investment in Japan, saying: “I would like to say even more strongly, like Captain Kirk in Star Trek: “Boldly invest in Japan, like no one has done before!”
