    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [July 6, 1993]
    [Pages 1018-1019]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Reception for Japanese Leaders in Tokyo
    July 6, 1993

        Thank you very much. On behalf of Hillary and myself, I want to say
    how glad we are to be in Japan and how much we appreciate Ambassador and
    Mrs. Armacost inviting all of you to come here and to meet us.
        I want to keep my remarks brief because I hope we can have more time
    for personal visiting. I do want you to know that I just had a very good
    meeting with Prime Minister Miyazawa, and we discussed a whole range of
    issues. I would say, the most important are that I was able to reaffirm
    the commitment of the United States to the security relationship that
    exists between our two nations and the continuing involvement of the
    United States in a security relationship in Japan and Korea and across a
    whole broad range of issues that face us as a people.
        Secondly, we had a good discussion about our efforts at the upcoming
    G-7 summit to promote

    [[Page 1019]]

    a higher rate of economic growth throughout the globe, to open more
    markets to trade through the Uruguay round, and finally, to try to
    secure a democracy and market reforms in Russia, something that Japan
    has been very helpful to the United States on and for which we are very
    grateful.
        And lastly, we discussed negotiations which are still ongoing in our
    attempt to establish a framework of basic principles for a new agreement
    about our trading relationships. Perhaps we can have more to say about
    that in our personal conversations.
        The United States thinks it is absolutely critical for the
    imbalances to be reduced. We think it is in the interest of both
    countries for that to happen. We have worked very hard in our Nation on
    increasing our productivity and our ability to compete in the last
    several years. And now, as you know, we are taking very, very strong
    steps to do what our Japanese friends have asked us for years to do,
    which is to bring down our Government's deficit.
        So we come here with an outstretched hand and the hope that all of
    the ferment and change and political debate going on in Japan will be a
    very positive thing for your people and for our relationship. Many of
    the issues you're debating from political reform to economic issues are
    also being debated in our country and, frankly, in most other advanced
    democracies. I think this period of change should be viewed by all of us
    with hope, with the view that we're going to make something very good
    come out of it, not only in the election process but in the aftermath.
        And there is no more important relationship to the United States
    than our relationship with Japan. And I intend to keep it on a firm
    footing, and I hope that our relationship with all of you will
    contribute to that and, most importantly, to the welfare of the people
    of Japan and the people of the United States.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:42 p.m. at the residence of U.S.
    Ambassador Michael H. Armacost.