Donald Trump begins trip with N Korea on his mind
US President Donald Trump headed to Japan on the first stop of his five-nation tour of Asia on Saturday, looking to present a united front with the Japanese against North Korea as tensions run high over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests.
Trump, is scheduled to speak to US and Japanese forces at Yokota airbase shortly after arriving in Japan on Sunday and is expected to stress the importance of the alliance to regional security.
Ballistic missile tests by North Korea and its sixth and largest nuclear test, in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, have exacerbated the most critical international challenge of Trump’s presidency.
Aerial drills conducted over South Korea by two US strategic bombers have raised tensions in recent days.
In a display of golf diplomacy, Trump is to play a round of golf with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The two leaders also played together in Florida earlier this year.
Joined by his wife Melania on part of the trip, Trump’s 12-day tour of Asia is the longest by an American president since George HW Bush in 1992. Besides Japan, he will visit South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Trump extended the trip by a day on Friday when he agreed to participate in the Asean Summit in Manila.
Trade will factor heavily during Trump’s trip as he tries to persuade Asian allies to agree to trade policies more favourable to the US.
A centrepiece of the trip will be a visit to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang, Vietnam, where he will deliver a speech in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, which is seen as offering a bulwark in response to expansionist Chinese policies.
HONOLULU:
Vladimir Lenin makes a speech in Moscow.