Campbell, ... shared an episode that indicates how strongly Obama feels about the importance of the Japan-U.S. alliance.

According to Campbell, during an unofficial U.S.-China summit in California in June, Chinese President Xi Jinping raised some concerns against Japan and was going on about it for some length before Obama interrupted him.

“President Obama stopped (Xi) and said that ‘Japan is an ally, Japan is a friend and Japan is a democracy, and you need to understand that very clearly,’ ” Campbell said.