The United States said Monday its long-standing alliance with Japan has been vital for peace in the Indo-Pacific region and the relationship will not change due to the result of any election.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller made the statement during a press briefing after Japan’s ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba lost its majority in the powerful lower house in Sunday’s general election.
Miller said the alliance, which he called “the cornerstone of peace, security and prosperity” in the region and across the world for over seven decades, has “never been stronger.”
“I do not see that changing because of the outcome of any election, either in the United States or in Japan,” he said, adding that Washington will continue working with Tokyo on major global and regional issues, including reinforcing their trilateral partnership with South Korea.
Despite his Liberal Democratic Party’s crushing defeat in the election, Ishiba, who became Japan’s prime minister in early October, on Monday ruled out stepping down, telling a press conference that the country is confronted with severe economic and security challenges.
The ruling coalition’s seats, combining those of the LDP and its much smaller partner Komeito, fell sharply to 215 from 288 in the 465-member House of Representatives.
With majority control lost for the first time in 15 years, Japan’s political landscape is in turmoil as Ishiba now needs to gain some support from opposition party lawmakers in order to sustain his government.
The upheaval came about a week before the United States holds its presidential election in an unpredictable and high-stakes contest.
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