Mattis rejects 'dramatic military moves' in Asia on diplomacy tour

US Defense Secretary James Mattis (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) shake hands

(Image credit: Eugene Hoshiko/Getty Images)

published 4 February 2017

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis took his first overseas trip in office to South Korea and Japan this week. On Saturday, in Tokyo, he assured both American allies they can expect stable U.S. relations for the foreseeable future, including a continuing American military presence in each nation.

"At this time, we do not see any need for dramatic military moves at all," Mattis said, suggesting President Trump will not follow through with campaign comments about requiring the Asian countries to pay and provide for more of their own defense.

Mattis also took an aggressive attitude toward China, accusing Beijing of "shredding the trust of nations in the region." However, he sharply rejected military measures as a means of settling competing Japanese and Chinese territory claims to a chain of disputed islands in the South China Sea. "What we have to do is exhaust all efforts, diplomatic efforts, to try to resolve this properly, maintaining open lines of communication," Mattis said.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.