This region has achieved tremendous growth in the span of a single generation. However, a large and relatively disproportionate amount of the fruits of that growth is being allocated to military expansion and arms trading. To me, this is extremely regrettable. We also find ourselves facing the threat of weapons of mass destruction and attempts to change the status quo through force or coercion. Clearly there exist elements that spawn instability. And yet nowhere do we find a need to be pessimistic. That's my approach.
Recently President Barack Obama of the United States and I mutually reaffirmed that the U.S.-Japan Alliance is the cornerstone for regional peace and security.
President Obama and I also mutually confirmed that the United States and Japan are strengthening trilateral cooperation with likeminded partners to promote peace and economic prosperity in Asia and the Pacific and around the globe.
When Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott visited Japan at the beginning of April, we reaffirmed this exact stance, namely that in security affairs, we will further the trilateral cooperation among Japan, the U.S., and Australia. We clearly articulated to people both at home and abroad our intention to elevate the strategic partnership between
Japan and Australia to a new special relationship.
In India, Mr. Narendra Modi has become Prime Minister through another free and fair election. I am absolutely certain that when I welcome Prime Minister Modi to Tokyo, we will successfully confirm that Japan-India cooperation, as well as trilateral cooperation including our two countries, will make the "confluence of the two seas," that is the Pacific and Indian Oceans, peaceful and more prosperous. |
