Chris Coons Presses Ambassador Nom On Reinforcing Trilateral Agreement Between US, Japan, And Korea

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During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Thursday, Rep Chris Coons (D-DE) questioned Japan Ambassador nominee George Glass about reinforcing the trilateral agreement between Japan, Korea, and the United States.    Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00Ambassador Glass, if I might just continue in this general direction because I didn't

00:04get a chance to question you at all in the first round.

00:06Thank you for your willingness to continue serving and representing our nation.

00:10I think you served well as ambassador to Portugal.

00:13My thanks to Mary and the rest of your family for your willingness to step back into the

00:17fray and for sharing with folks that your faith is the underpinning of your public service.

00:23I think that's constructive when people do that.

00:25I agree with you that the U.S.-Japan relationship at the end of the last administration was

00:30in a very strong and good place and that the progress that was made in pulling together

00:35Korea-Japan in the United States was a significant step forward.

00:39I am concerned about the future direction of that trilateral relationship because of

00:45unfortunate recent developments in Korea.

00:48Just help me understand what you might do as ambassador to help strengthen or sustain

00:54That work, Senator Hagerty and I in a bipartisan group went out to both Japan and Korea last

01:01August to try and reinforce and give some lift to it, but since then there's been some

01:05dramatic intervening events in both Japan and Korea.

01:08Senator, thank you for the question and thank you for your interest in the region.

01:15It's very important.

01:17If confirmed, I think we all have to be patient to see what happens with South Korea.

01:24That's currently in effectively a state of turmoil and we'll have to see what comes out

01:29of that, but no doubt it's a step backwards in trying to build that relationship between

01:36not only the bilateral relationship between the Japanese and the Koreans, but with the

01:41trilateral that we have working.

01:43I think in most of these cases and what I've seen in that, and once again, coming from

01:48the outside, we don't have as much information as maybe we will in a few weeks if confirmed,

01:54but by the way I'm looking at it, it seems to be that a lot of the issues that we're

02:01discussing are too broad and I think that we can narrow those down between the three

02:07countries and it would be very helpful.

02:10A lot of times when you're that broad, it's difficult to make advancements in what we're

02:16looking to do, whether it's on the security side, the economic side, but if we can narrow

02:21those down and really get to work and dig in on a very specific number of issues, I

02:27think that would be a tremendous help.

02:29Two more things if I might.

02:30I recently met with a large group of Japanese CEOs who came to just sort of increase their

02:36engagement and visibility.

02:37They are very concerned about a potential trade war inspired by tariffs that might be

02:44improvidently imposed.

02:47I'm not going to ask you to respond to this, but in my previous questioning of Ambassador

02:50Hoekstra, sometimes President Trump engages in public bluster about matters that are framed

02:57as a negotiating tactic.

02:58I think for the Japanese in particular, it's profoundly unsettling for them to not be clear

03:03about our relationship and I tried to provide some reassurance about the deep bipartisan

03:08respect for their hosting 60,000 U.S. troops in Japan, as you referenced.

03:14The special measures agreement is coming up for renegotiation in 2027.

03:19I'm concerned that our president is often someone who likes to drive a hard bargain

03:24by framing before negotiating.

03:29How will you help the administration appreciate the significant amount of contributions the

03:36Japanese have made over decades to basing our troops, to providing us with some significant

03:42but unquantifiable benefits from being a trusted and reliable anchor, ally, and partner, both

03:48militarily as well as economically in the region?

03:53Thank you for the question.

03:56It certainly is daunting as you look at the amount of issues and it's daunting when you

04:02look at the amount of money.

04:03I mean, when the prime minister talked about a direct investment into the United States

04:09of upwards of a trillion dollars, I mean, these are – I mean, it's difficult to

04:17comprehend those types of numbers.

04:20But we've had a consistent support by the Japanese for our military in and around $1.4

04:26billion a year, and it's been fairly consistent for a while.

04:30And undoubtedly, since the first administration to now, the sophistication of the Chinese

04:36has grown tremendously.

04:39And war has gotten – not necessarily war, but a conflict or a push back and forth has

04:46gotten significantly more expensive.

04:49And so housing the troops has done that.

04:51Whether we have weapons systems that we need to upgrade, command and control that we're

04:55going to be upgrading along with the Japanese, that's going to be a very – these are

04:59very expensive ventures.

05:01And so undoubtedly, I do believe we're going to have to go to the Japanese and talk about

05:05an increase in that support.

05:07Well, if I could, in closing, I am grateful the Japanese have actively participated in

05:13supporting Ukraine in its fight.

05:15I hope we will encourage them to continue to do that and recognize that they, from halfway

05:20around the world, have been a part of that effort.

05:23And the move towards developing a real counter-strike capability by Japan I hope will lead to co-production

05:29and purchasing and deployment of Tomahawk missiles, as well as other advanced systems.

05:34And I look forward to working with all three of you in your next postings.

05:37Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:38If possible, I – afterwards, in the next couple of weeks as we go through this process,

05:43we'll still be here, and I would avail myself at any point in time to come in and talk through

05:49that with you.

05:50Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:52As the ranking member of the East Asia Subcommittee about to go to the region with Senator Ricketts,

05:58I would very much welcome that.

06:00All three of you have been chosen to represent the United States for absolutely critical

06:05allies, and I hope that we can together sustain these trusted and longstanding relationships.

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