President Donald Trump said Friday his White House will unveil new security measures to keep America safe next week, and said his administration will continue to pursue efforts to lift the freeze on his immigration ban.
“We will be doing something very rapidly having to do with additional security for our country. You will be seeing that sometime next week,” Trump said at a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, without elaborating on what the actions will be.
Trump began the East Room news conference by renewing US security guarantees to Japan concerning islands in the East China Sea with which it has a territorial dispute with Beijing.
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“We are committed to the security of Japan and all areas under its administrative control,” Trump said.
Before their joint appearance in the East Room, the two leaders held Oval Office talks expected to focus on the restive security situation in Northeast Asia as China flexes its territorial muscles and North Korea pursues its nuclear and ballistic missile program. They were also discussing the US-Japan alliance, the bedrock of American power projection in Asia about which Trump made uncomplimentary comments during his campaign.
Japan calls the island chain the Senkakus, while China calls them the Diaoyu Islands.
The US recognizes Japanese administration of the islands and says Article 5 of the US-Japan Security Treaty applies to them. But there had been some doubt over Trump’s position on the issue — at least until Defense Secretary James Mattis renewed the guarantee last week.
Trump’s travel ban has been blocked by a federal judge in Seattle, a ruling upheld Thursday night by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The President said that he was also confident that legal efforts would ultimately succeed in defending his executive order to temporarily halt immigration from seven predominantly Muslim nations.
“We will continue to go through the court process,” Trump said.
Trump did not specify exactly what the new security measures would entail. “We will not allow into our country who are looking to do harm to our people,” Trump said.
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