Abe leaning toward joining TPP free trade talks
Baku, February 25 (AZERTAC). Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appeared more positive about Japan joining talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade arrangement, saying high-level negotiations could lead to exemptions that many ruling party members are demanding.
"The TPP`s significance will depend on whether Japan, which has the (world`s) third-largest gross domestic product, will join it," Abe said in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun on Feb. 20 ahead of his first visit to the United States since returning as prime minister in December.
Abe, who will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Feb. 22, said the trip will demonstrate to the world that Japan-U.S. ties have recovered, a top priority of Abe`s administration.
"Regretfully, Asian nations have come to perceive the Japan-U.S. alliance as failing," Abe said. "It is extremely important to show the world that Japan-U.S. ties are back to what they used to be."
During the campaign for the Lower House election in December, Abe criticized the "diplomatic defeat" of the then ruling Democratic Party of Japan. Soon after the DPJ took over the government in 2009, ties between Tokyo and Washington started to fray, mainly over the delay in the agreed-upon relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture.
The TPP agreement will likely be raised during the Abe-Obama summit within the broader picture of strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance.
Abe`s Liberal Democratic Party said in its Lower House election pledge that it opposes Japan`s participation in the TPP talks as long as the agreement presupposes the abolition of all tariffs without exception. LDP lawmakers with ties to Japan`s agriculture sector are particularly opposed to the TPP.
But Abe indicated he will mention to Obama that both Tokyo and Washington want to see some items exempted from the tariff rule.
North Korea test-fired a long-range ballistic missile in December and conducted its third nuclear test on Feb. 12.
“Depriving a dictator of cash at his disposal would significantly affect his ability to maintain his regime. Tokyo and Washington`s (previous) financial sanctions did deal a blow. I hope authorities and experts in Japan and the United States will start discussing the possibility of (new) financial sanctions that can inflict a certain blow," Abe said.
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