On November 18, 2016, Ms. Yoshiko Sakurai, President of the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals (JINF) and Planning Committee Member, held the JINF weekly Friday conference, then Dr. James E. Auer, the Director of the Center for U.S.-Japan Studies and Cooperation at Vanderbilt University, gave us a briefing as a guest speaker and discussed with us about the new US President and his policy still difficult to predict.
He served in the U.S. Navy from 1963 to 1983 in a number of positions, largely in Japan. These included visiting student at the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Staff College (equivalent of the U.S. Navy War College) in Tokyo, and commanding officer of a guided missile frigate homeported in Yokosuka. From April 1979 until September 1988, he served as Special Assistant for Japan in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Dr. Auer teaches U.S.-Japan relations and the history of sea power to Vanderbilt University graduate and undergraduate students.
He said to be relieved that Mr. Trump won the US president electoral campaign as a result. During the campaign, Mr. Trump indicated to have allies pay more for stationing US forces in Japan and South Korea, but his words didn’t stand on the facts. Regarding Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement, there will be a fair possibility of something like TPP in his flexible thinking, if he notices TPP is worth much for business. In any case, his handling ability of political power is still difficult to predict.
Lastly, he mentioned that it is sure important for stability of Asia-Pacific security to establish the strong linkage of TTA, namely Tsai in Taiwan, Trump in U.S. and Abe in Japan.
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