Mr. Mattis also signaled restraint on another hot spot: the South China Sea. “What we have to do is exhaust all diplomatic efforts to try to resolve this properly,” he said. During last year’s presidential campaign, Mr. Trump suggested he might pull back from those commitments unless countries like Japan contributed more to the cost of their defense. During his meeting Saturday with Ms. Inada, Mr. Mattis did not bring up the matter of Japan’s financial commitment to its military defense, according to briefings from both countries. Under Mr. Abe, Japan has increased its annual defense budget five years in a row.

Source: New York Times February 04, 2017 05:25 UTC