During his first visit to Asia as US defense secretary, retired Marine Corps. Gen. James Mattis last week sought to reassure the United States’ two key allies in Northeast Asia that the new Trump administration plans to work closely with both Japan and South Korea.
Mattis traveled to the region for his first foreign visit to signal American reassurance that the country will not withdraw into isolationism nor lessen its commitments to joint defenses against threats from North Korea and China.
The threat posed by Beijing loomed large in the background of Mattis meetings in both Seoul and Tokyo during the three-day trip.
Read the entire article at Asia Times.
