Keidanren (Chairman Masakazu Tokura, Committee on U.S. Affairs Chairs, Shigeru Hayakawa and Tsuyoshi Nagano, Sub-Committee on U.S. Relations Chair, Eiichi Yoshikawa) taking the opportunity of Sen. William Hagerty (R-TN), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) to visit Japan, held a meeting on April 12 at Keidanren Building in Otemachi, Tokyo. The outline is as follows.

Senator Hagerty

As the world situation becomes increasingly tense, Japan and the United States are both facing a variety of challenges. Examples include ensuring supply chain resilience and cybersecurity. Strengthening U.S.-Japan cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region is essential to address these challenges. In light of the change of government in the ROK, it is also important to further strengthen economic partnerships between Japan, the United States, and the ROK.

In order to secure cybersecurity, it is necessary for Japan and the United States to build a reliable network infrastructure based on strong partnerships. Furthermore, we would like to jointly promote innovation on key technologies and make them the source of competitiveness between the two countries.

Senator Cardin

As the invasion of Ukraine continues, there is a growing need to isolate Russia from the world. To ensure that, we continue to impose sanctions on Russia and consider how to meet each country's energy needs.

In order to increase supply chain resilience, it is necessary to increase domestic production capacity in addition to diversification, and the U.S. Congress is currently deliberating on related bills. While maintaining a free and open international trading system remains important, confronting threats such as Russia and China, there is also a growing need to build a reliable supply chain. Japan and the United States need to work together to address this dilemma. I would like to seek a well-balanced solution while listening carefully to the opinions of the Japanese businesses.

Senator Cornyn

Russia's invasion of Ukraine also highlighted the importance of diversifying energy resources. In the future, it is necessary to explore realistic solutions, such as accelerating the use of clean alternative energy such as hydrogen which Japan has strengths in.

Since its accession to the WTO, China has not followed the rules and has acted with priority on its own interests. China's ambitions to change the international economic order are significant. In the cyber world, Russia and China are stealing intellectual property and manipulating online information to spread propaganda. Now is the time for Japan, the United States, and other democracies to work together to confront authoritarianism.