Japan's Abe to meet with Trump to 'build trust'

TOKYO, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his U.S. visit, which will include a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, is meant to build trust.

Abe is scheduled to meet with Trump on Thursday in New York, with plans to build personal relationships with the incoming administration and reinforce the importance Japan places on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an economic pact Trump has opposed.

"I am very honored to see the President-elect ahead of other world leaders. The Japan-U.S. alliance is the axis of Japan's diplomacy and security. The alliance becomes alive only when there is trust between us. I would like to build such a trust with Mr. Trump," Abe said prior to his departure from Tokyo and his week-long visit to the United States.

Like many world leaders, Abe is eager to learn if Trump's campaign rhetoric will become U.S. policy. Trump surprised allies during the campaign by suggesting U.S. troops should withdraw from Japan and South Korea and the two countries should defend themselves, possibly with their own nuclear weapons. Katsuyuki Kawai, an Abe adviser who arrived in the United States prior to Abe's departure from Japan, said Trump's transition team told him such remarks should not be taken literally.

"All the people [on the transition team] shared the same opinion, that we don't need to be nervous about every single word and phrase said during Mr. Trump's campaign," Kawai told Japanese broadcaster NHK, CNN reported Thursday.

Kawai met Wednesday with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a possible defense secretary candidate, and Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., House Intelligence Committee chairman.

Nunes later told reporters, "Mr. Trump is very quick learner. I think he's going to be very, very interested in all the issues dealing in [the] Asia region."