It was at an 18th century Georgian manor house outside London that Japanese lawmaker Rui Matsukawa began to have serious doubts about America’s commitment to defending her country.
Matsukawa, a former deputy defense minister, traveled in March to historic Fordham Abbey for a top-level bilateral conference. At the estate, now home to a Japanese-owned sake brewery, she said she learned from British lawmakers, diplomats and business leaders that a tectonic shift in their thinking was underway.
U.S. President Donald Trump was openly berating America’s European allies and tilting toward Russia. And Europe had "awakened,” she said, to the fact it could no longer rely so heavily on America and must take more responsibility for its security.
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