During NHK’s “Nichiyo Toron” Sunday debate show, secretaries general of the ruling and opposition parties expressed their views about the future of U.S.-Japan relations under the Trump administration. The LDP’s Nikai and Komeito Party’s Inoue stressed the need for arranging an early summit meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Abe to deepen the relationship of trust between the two nations. While acknowledging that U.S.-Japan relations are the cornerstone of Japan’s diplomacy, the Democratic Party’s Noda and several other opposition discussants expressed concern over President Trump’s “America First” policy. The Japanese Communist Party’s Koike expressed concern that the U.S. under the Trump administration may intensify its demand for Japan’s defense spending and insisted that Japan should stop “blindly following the U.S.”

The panelists also discussed their party’s positions on legislation on such key issues to be deliberated in the Diet session convened last week, including work-style reform, the criminalization of conspiracy to commit terrorism, the Emperor’s possible abdication, and constitutional reform.