TOKYO -- By highlighting Tokyo's deep ties with Washington at Pearl Harbor Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a message to both the incoming U.S. administration and his neighbors in Asia that the region's existing security framework must be respected.
"I am proud of what we have accomplished in the last four years," Abe said in his last summit with President Barack Obama Tuesday, prior to his speech at Pearl Harbor. "We created a positive cycle that keeps moving Japan-U.S. relations forward." Obama responded that the bilateral partnership will give some sense of stability to an international community rocked by uncertainty.
