"If somebody attacks Japan, we have to immediately go and start World War III, okay? If we get attacked, Japan doesn't have to help us. Somehow, that doesn't sound so fair." – Donald Trump, Dec. 30, 2015, Hilton Head, South Carolina.

"You're going to have to ask yourself, at what point and at what cost do we continue to protect Japan, Germany and many other countries. They're not paying for the protection anywhere near what it's costing us." – Donald Trump, Face The Nation, CBS News, April 3, 2016

Katsuyuki Kawai, an adviser to Abe sent to set up the Trump meeting, said he had spoken to several Trump advisers since arriving in Washington on Monday.

"I have been meeting with so many top aides to the president-elect and also I have been meeting with the very distinguished senators and congressmen and they unanimously told me that we don’t have to take each word that Mr. Trump said publicly literally."

The country's two tech giants also urged closer cooperation between the public and private sectors at China's third World Internet Conference, which has focused on heightened threats to cyber security over the past year, including disruptions to financial systems and online terrorist radicalization.

China says the new law, which formalizes broad restrictions on technology companies working in China, was designed to remove cyber security threats in "critical" industries not to target foreign businesses and will help counter terrorism.

However, overseas business groups and technology organizations say it unfairly targets them with overzealous surveillance measures and local data storage requirements.

Analysts say Alibaba and Tencent operate websites and apps that have a largely local user base, and so face fewer changes in the way they store data as a result of the law.

"This marks a step forward for China. We are asking [Tencent] professionals to learn from these regulations," Yang Peng, director of Tencent's Executive Committee for Information Security, said at the conference, which is organized by China's internet regulator and has also focused on building more robust global governance and the responsibility of the media.

Critics of the cyber security law say while China's influence in global technology has grown, its ruling Communist Party led by Xi has presided over broader and more vigorous efforts to control, and often censor, information online.

Alibaba's Vice President Yu Weimin said the group has 3,000 people dedicated to security, and the e-commerce giant is "working with law enforcement" to crack down on some content.

"With all this technology together we can win the war on terrorism," Yu said.

Tencent's Yang said the company is working within state regulations to clean up content, and has removed 80,000 video clips from their site this year.

Cyber security took on a greater focus among regulators worldwide in February when it emerged that hackers stole $81 million from the Central Bank of Bangladesh [BDCB.UL] via SWIFT, the global financial messaging system. The funds were transferred to accounts in the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

Both Tencent and Alibaba operate online payment platforms that offer services ranging from bill payments to money transfers. Alibaba's Alipay dominates the online payments industry in China, while Tencent's WeChat payment system is increasingly popular.

"Big internet companies are the ones with the means to fight cyber terrorism, which is why we need more cooperation between the private and public sector," Alibaba's Yu said.

(Editing by Ryan Woo and Alexander Smith)

"The United States has announced it is suspending the submission of TPP to the parliament so there are not sufficient conditions for Vietnam to submit its proposal for ratification," Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the National Assembly, according to Reuters.

The TPP deal is a project of incumbent US President Barack Obama aimed at increasing American exports. The future of the trade deal is highly uncertain in the Republican-dominated Congress and with President-elect Trump calling the project a "disaster".

"TPP is now in the history dustbin for sure," Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Politico last week.

Asian countries have reacted differently to the increasing likelihood of the trade treaty failure. Malaysia is focusing on a China-led trade agreement, while Japan has been seeking to revive the TPP.

"We already have signed 12 free trade agreements, so joining the TPP is good, but without joining TPP we will still continue to further the economic integration under programs we have joined," said the Vietnamese Prime Minister.

Among Vietnam’s free trade agreements is a deal with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union that came into power in October. Almost 60 percent of the tariffs between Vietnam and the bloc uniting Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan have been eliminated with another 30 percent expected to be eliminated in the next five to ten years.

"We are ready to cooperate with the United States for co-development on the principle of respecting independence, territorial sovereignty, causing no harms to each other. In that spirit, I believe the Vietnam-US ties will be better in the coming time," said Phuc.

Last week, Vietnam's trade minister said traditional exports like textiles, seafood and footwear would remain competitive even without the US deal.

Roskomnadzor, the watchdog, said it was acting to protect Russian Internet users' data. Russian law requires websites which store the personal data of Russian citizens to do so on Russian servers, something it said LinkedIn did not do.

LinkedIn, headquartered in the United States, has more than 6 million registered users in Russia. It is the first major social network to be blocked by Russian authorities, setting a precedent for the way foreign Internet firms operate.

LinkedIn's site would become unavailable in Russia within a day, the Interfax news agency cited Roskomnadzor spokesman Vadim Ampelonsky as saying. One Internet service provider, Rostelcom, was quick to say it had already blocked access to the site.

LinkedIn could not be immediately reached for comment.

It said in a statement earlier this month that the decision risked denying access to its site for millions of Russian members, including companies, who use it to grow their businesses.

The law requiring websites which store the personal data of Russian citizens to do so on Russian servers was introduced in 2014, but never previously enforced.

Critics see the move against LinkedIn as part of an attack on social networks in a country which has increasingly tightened control over the Internet in recent years.

(Reporting by Jack Stubbs; Writing by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

It aims to eventually sell 1.5 million new energy vehicles (NEVs) annually by 2025, Heizmann told reporters ahead of the Guangzhou auto show, which opens on Friday.

"We have to do more in the NEV area. The government is pushing, the general environment in China is pushing that," Heizmann said.

Overall sales of NEVs in China more than quadrupled last year with rapid growth continuing in 2016.

Volkswagen will deliver its first locally produced NEVs, as battery electric and plug-in hybrid cars are referred to in China, under its Audi brand this year.

Audi AG (NSUG.DE) manufactures the vehicles in a joint venture with China FAW Group [SASACJ.UL].

Volkswagen also has a JV with SAIC Motor (600104.SS), and the two companies have plans to sell plug-in hybrid cars in China in the future.

Global auto brands are only allowed to manufacture cars domestically in China through ventures with local partners, with automakers typically limited to two JV partners.

Volkswagen said in September that it had signed a preliminary deal to explore making electric vehicles in a new joint venture with China's Anhui Jianghuai Automobile (JAC Motor) (600418.SS).

The deal is not final and is subject to approvals.

He said he was hopeful the government would allow what would be Volkswagen's third JV in China, with the government pushing for less-polluting vehicles.

"Normally the legal framework is you are only allowed to have two joint ventures. There is a special chance to have this additional joint venture just on pure battery cars," Heizmann said.

Initiated by the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, the Hamburg Summit is a major Sino-European economic conference that aims to boost exchanges and tap business opportunities for entrepreneurs from both countries, according to organizers.

German and Chinese companies are increasing bilateral trade and investment in light of the initiative and also seeking cooperation opportunities in ports, transportation and industrial automation, Anke told reporters Tuesday in Shanghai.

So far, over 550 Chinese companies have set up offices in Hamburg and more than 700 Hamburg businesses are engaged in trade with China. In 2015, Hamburg port handled 2.5 million container units (TEU) from and to China, a third of all handled in the German port.

Chinese companies have also increased investment in Germany, according to Peter Rothen, consul general of Germany in Shanghai.

Chinese companies have showed strong interest in Hamburg's digital market.

In June, Spearhead, a Beijing-based company, acquired mobile advertising platform Smaato from Hamburg for $148 million. In April, Shanghai-based Youzu Interactive acquired Hamburg-based game developer Bigpoint with the aim of jointly building a global marketplace for online and mobile games.

Dutch chipmaker NXP is currently selling its high-tech semiconductor plant in Hamburg to a consortium consisting of Jianguang Asset Management and Wise Road Capital.

Abe spoke to reporters before leaving Tokyo's Haneda Airport for New York on Thursday for his first meeting with Trump.

Abe said it is an honor to be meeting the next US president ahead of other world leaders. He said that he hopes to talk with Trump about their dreams for the future.

He reiterated that the Japan-US alliance is the cornerstone of Japan's foreign and security policy, but said it requires mutual trust in order to function properly.

He said he hopes to build such a relationship with Trump and join hands in working for world prosperity and peace.

After meeting Trump, Abe will head to the Peruvian capital of Lima to attend a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. US President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Russian President Vladimir Putin will also be attending the summit.

Abe plans to hold talks with Putin while in Lima.

After the APEC summit, he will visit Buenos Aires in Argentina for talks with President Mauricio Macri.