Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi plans to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held in Mexico later this month. Koizumi sets great store on Japan-U.S. friendship. In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York in September, Koizumi said: "I have felt a strong affinity and trust with the president. I believe this friendship represents the larger friendship between our two countries."
A month after the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, major developments have affected Japan-U.S. relations. After Koizumi made a historic trip to North Korea, a special envoy of the Bush administration visited Pyongyang. Bush announced a new U.S. national security strategy, indicating readiness to make a pre-emptive strike in self-defense -- with military action against Iraq in mind.
In the newly opened extraordinary Diet session, debate will center on ways to revive Japan's moribund economy by stabilizing the nation's banking system and controlling deflation. The Bush administration is stepping up pressure on Japan to expedite writeoffs of nonperforming bank loans.