Japanese Prime Minister "will go to meet the president-elect right after the U.S. presidential election"

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has expressed his intention to visit the United States and meet him as soon as the president-elect is decided in the U.S. presidential election next month.

Prime Minister Ishiba told the Yomiuri Shimbun, "It is necessary to establish a relationship before the formal inauguration of the U.S. president in January next year to stabilize the U.S.-Japan alliance."

Regarding the plan to stop by the United States on the occasion of attending the APEC summit in Peru and the G20 summit in Brazil in the middle of next month, he replied, "We do not deny the possibility."

If Prime Minister Ishiba visits the United States, it will be the first time since his inauguration.

Earlier, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited New York shortly after former President Donald Trump was elected in the U.S. presidential election in November 2016, and this relationship was considered to have maintained a honeymoon relationship.