Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Wednesday called for U.S. approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and for further cooperation between the United States and Japan to combat terrorism and climate change.
In the first-ever address to a joint session of Congress by a Japanese prime minister, Abe used much of his nearly hour-long speech to thank the United States for its 60-year alliance, and to push for further cooperation between the two nations, in particular the 12-nation trade pact known as TPP.
“The goal is near,” Abe told Congress. “Let us bring the TPP to a successful conclusion through our joint leadership.”
The historic and often moving speech covered Japan’s role in the tragedy of World War II and even Abe’s own history as an opponent of trade agreements.
Abe met privately with President Obama on Tuesday without coming to agreement on a trade deal, although Obama said he was “confident,” an accord will eventually be reached.
The TPP would link the United States and 11 other nations, including Japan, in pact that would expand trade and open up more foreign markets to U.S. goods.
Abe is eager to secure the deal, which has stalled over foreign car tariffs and how much rice the United States can sell to certain nations.
The agreement could be hastened by the passage of legislation in Congress that would boost Obama’s authority to conduct trade deals.
But the trade authority legislation doesn’t have the votes to pass, thanks to opposition from most Democrats and some GOP conservatives.
Abe promoted TPP as a way to spread peace, democracy and long-term security.
“The TPP covers an area that accounts for 40 percent of global trade,” Abe said. “We must turn the area into a region for lasting peace and prosperity.”
Abe touted Democratic advances in Japan, offering condolences on behalf of the country for the deaths caused by World War II, in which Japan allied itself with Nazi Germany.
America helped rescue Japan from the ashes after the war, Abe said, by delivering supplies that included 2,036 goats.
More reforms are on the way, Abe promised, including those that will help stop a troubling population drop in the country, fueled in part by a Japanese women seeking more personal freedom in a nation that lags behind in stopping gender discrimination.
“We are changing some of our old habits to empower women so they can get more actively engaged in all walks of life,” Abe said.
“In short, Japan is right in the middle of a quantum leap,” Abe said.
Abe told Congress he visited the World War II memorial and pointed out his guests in the viewing gallery: A retired general who served as a captain on Iwo Jima during World War II, and Japanese Diet member Yoshitaka Shindo, whose grandfather, General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, was commander of the Japanese garrison during the battle for Iwo Jima.
The two men shook hands.
“What should we call this, if not a miracle of history?” Abe said. “Enemies that had fought each other so fiercely have become friends, bonded in spirit.”
The White House will cap off Abe’s visit with a state dinner Wednesday night.
