Japan’s Abe To Meet Trump Next Week

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to meet US president-elect Donald Trump next week in New York, officials said Thursday, after phone talks between the two following the billionaire’s shock election win.

Abe and Trump spoke for about 20 minutes and tentatively set a date of November 17 for the meeting, just before Abe goes to Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, a Japanese foreign ministry official told AFP.

During his election campaign, Trump raised eyebrows in Japan by calling on the country to pay more to support the cost of stationing US forces.

He even suggested that Japan might want to become a nuclear power to counter unpredictable neighbour North Korea, which has repeatedly conducted nuclear and ballistic missile tests to international condemnations and prompting UN sanctions.

That statement shocked many in Japan, the only country in the world to have been attacked with nuclear weapons.

Trump has also rejected the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal pushed by President Barack Obama and which Abe hopes his parliament will ratify soon.

Abe congratulated Trump soon after his victory on Wednesday, vowing that the countries would maintain their close relationship, calling them “unshakeable allies”.

During their phone talks, Abe “talked about the importance of the bilateral relationship and the Japan-US alliance”, which he stressed underpins the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, the foreign ministry official said.

In response, Trump said he hoped to strengthen the US-Japan relationship further, the official said.

Trump also said he appreciated Abe’s economic policy and looked forward to working with him, she said.

She declined to elaborate on what else they discussed.

Credit:

http://guardian.ng/news/japans-abe-to-meet-trump-next-week/

‘I’m Not Behind MOSOP Crisis’ – Sen Abe

THE All Progressives Congress candidate in the 2015 election for Rivers South-East Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Abe, has debunked claims in some quarters that he was behind the current crisis rocking the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People.

Abe also stated that he had no hand in the clampdown against suspected kidnappers and cultists in the state by soldiers and added that the smear campaign against him was aimed at deceiving the people of the area and steal their votes in the forthcoming rerun.

The former secretary to the Rivers State Government alleged that some politicians in the state were using money to mobilise Ogoni people against him and the APC.

Abe, who spoke on Thursday through his Media Assistant, Mr. Parry Saroh Benson, condemned the claim by some politicians in Ogoniland that he was involved in the current MOSOP crisis.

“My attention has been drawn to a devilish plan by a group of desperate politicians to launch a smear campaign against candidates of the APC in order to deceive the Ogoni people and steal their votes in the forthcoming rerun elections.

“These desperate politicians led by a commissioner in the service of Rivers State Government  and a senatorial candidate of one the political parties in the forthcoming rerun elections have released N50m to actualise this mischievous plot.

“Also N10m has been given to each of the four Ogoni local government areas and another N10m to a central organizing committee to mobilize and incite Ogoni youths against the APC, particularly against me Senator Magnus Abe on the false and spurious grounds that the APC and I are behind the current crisis in MOSOP as well as the security operations against suspected cultists and kidnappers in Ogoniland.

“As Ogoni people, we must be wise and not allow ourselves to be deceived a second time. The state of crime, armed robbery, kidnapping and cultism in Rivers State has reached an all-time high.

“Everybody has been or may be a potential victim; PDP members, APC members, non-politicians, women, men, children and even the clergy, including our revered Arch Bishop Kattey, have been victims.

“Businesses are shutting down in Rivers state and lives are no longer safe. Security operations are going on all over Rivers State to stem the tide. We heard of security operations in Abua, ONELGA, Port-Harcourt, Okrika, Ikwerre, Emouha, Ogu-Bolo, etc.