This is John Batchel, a conversation with colleague Mary Kissel, Executive Vice President Stevenson,

Incorporated, former senior advisor to the Secretary of State, about Japan and the alliance between

the United States and Japan in the face of the Chinese aggression and threats against Taiwan.

Mary measures it as rock-solid. More than that, it's good to have a reliable partner

in Asia when North Asia now is in question because of the events in Seoul in these last hours.

Mary Kissel, on the strong bipartisan relationship with Tokyo, with Japan's government,

with Prime Minister and the new Prime Minister, Ishiaba.

More of this later tonight.

I don't.

The U.S. relationship with Japan is rock solid.

It is nonpartisan. You saw a very close relationship

with President Trump's first ambassador, Bill Haggurdy, who's now a senator from Tennessee,

with that then government. And you saw it continued with Rahm Emanuel, serving as Democrat,

ambassador for President Biden to Tokyo, I don't see that

changing in the least because the threat profile isn't changing. If anything, it's getting

more acute now, not just with the aggressiveness out of Beijing, but with this domestic

turmoil in South Korea. So I would anticipate that if confirmed,

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and incoming National Security Advisor, Mike Walts,

will pay quite a lot of attention to our friends and allies,

not just in North Asia, but across Asia Pacific.

Okay.