According to Japan’s “Sankei Shimbun”, the former US ambassador to Japan, William Hagerty (William Hagerty) accepted a phone interview with “Sankei Shimbun” before the 26th. Japanese media said that Hagerty expressed the hope that the United States will strengthen cooperation with Japan in the energy field.
Japanese media pointed out that Hagerty is a Republican candidate for the US Senate. The election will be held on November 3 at the same time as the US presidential election. Hagerty will run for election in Tennessee, where the Republican Party is located. The report mentioned that even if he turned from a diplomat to a politician, Hagerty still stated that “the goal is to continue to be a bridge between the United States and Japan.”
Regarding the energy sector, Hagerty emphasized that this is an “important element (of US-Japan relations).” Expanding imports from the United States will help Japan to obtain stable energy products.
Hagerty said that as the geopolitical “threat” between China and Russia increases, ensuring the supply chain of strategic materials has become more and more important. As a country with small resources, Japan “should not want to rely on countries that do not share interests with it.” .
Regarding the situation in Northeast Asia, Hagerty said that in order to confront China, “it is necessary to cooperate so that the United States and Japan have the strongest combat effectiveness in the region”. Regarding the issue of Japan’s funding of Japanese troops stationed in the United States, he declared that “the Trump regime has made huge investments to rebuild the US military that was weakened in the Obama regime.” He also said that “the United States needs to rely on the support of all allies.”
In addition, Hagerty also said that the Japan-US trade agreement will take effect this year, which “strengthens the economic ties between the United States and Japan”, and looks forward to the active investment of Japanese companies in Tennessee and other places.
