Pro-Japanese Air Force Veteran Named to Key U.S. Govt Post

October 18, 2018

Washington- U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated an Air Force veteran versed in issues in Japan as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

David Stilwell will officially assume the key Department of State post if he is endorsed by the Senate, taking charge of East Asia policy issues of the Trump administration, including its relations with Japan, the North Korean situation and responses to China, which is increasingly assertive.

Stilwell, who entered the Air Force in 1980, has served as commander of the 35th Fighter Wing at the Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, and defense attache at the U.S. embassy in Beijing.

He retired in 2015 with the rank of brigadier general. Stilwell speaks Chinese and Korean, and also understands Japanese.

The Department of State post in question has been vacant since Daniel Russel stepped down in March 2017, after the inauguration of the Trump administration in January that year.

In December the same year, Susan Thornton, who was serving as acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs at the time, was nominated to fill the vacancy.

But as approval procedures hit a snag due to opposition from some senators who regard Thornton as being pro-Chinese, Trump withdrew her nomination in August this year. Jiji Press