U.S. Envoy Glass Voices “Rock-Solid” Support for Japan

Tokyo, Nov. 21 (Jiji Press)–U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass on Friday expressed his country’s “rock-solid” support for Japan, which faces increasing economic coercion from China, in a meeting with Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara. “What is beyond doubt right now is the United States’ rock-solid support for Japan and the Japanese people,” Glass told reporters after the meeting, held at the Japanese prime minister’s office in Tokyo, noting that this is a message he conveyed to the top Japanese government spokesman. “Most of China’s neighbors have seen Beijing’s bullying side more than its friendly face, and this kind of unnecessary intimidation only erodes trust and undermines regional stability,” Glass also said. The United States will “always have the back of Japan and the Japanese fishermen and workers…who are the real victims of Beijing’s coercion,” the ambassador said of China’s effective import suspension for Japanese fishery products. On Thursday, Glass said after a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi that the United States supports Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and the Japanese people. The import suspension is China’s apparent retaliation for Takaichi’s recent parliamentary remark that a possible contingency over Taiwan could constitute a so-called survival-threatening situation for Japan, in which the country can exercise its collective self-defense right. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province, aiming to unite the self-ruled island with its mainland. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]