Diplomacy toward Latin America Countering China

The Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, gave a speech on Japan’s diplomacy toward Latin American and the Caribbean in São Paulo, Brazil, on May 4th. In the speech titled “Paving a Pathway to ‘Human Dignity’ with Latin America and the Caribbean,” Kishida insisted on further cooperation between Japan and the countries in the region based on democratic value. It was obviously to enhance the presence of Japan and to reduce the influence of authoritarian regimes such as China or Russia.

It was the first opportunity in these ten years for a prime minister of Japan to give a policy speech toward Latin America and the Caribbean. At the beginning of his speech, Kishida noted that he had visited São Paulo in 2013 as the minister for foreign affairs and got back as the prime minister to further promote the cooperation with the countries.

 

Kishida raised three pathways as the visions toward human dignity. Firstly, he argued necessity of ensuring free and open international order based on the rule of law. As one may realize, “free and open” is the phrase Japan often uses for security of Indo-Pacific region to counter China’s advance.

 

Kishida told that Japan and Latin America and the Caribbean was linked by the Pacific Ocean and the Panama Canal. “Japan will make every effort to uphold and develop the open maritime order based on the rule of law, and provide support to ensure safe and stable environment for using the canal with Japanese technology and financing,” said Kishida.

 

Secondly, Kishida raised overcoming common challenges that humanity faces such as the environment and climate change. He referred to rich energy resources in the region and importance of achieving decarbonization, calling the Amazon rain forest “lungs of the planet.” Stressing Japan’s contribution to Brazil’s strengths in biofuels and synthetic fuels can be interpreted as a way to be independent from fossil fuels produced by the countries such as Russia.

 

Lastly, Kishida upheld pursuing prosperity that could be shared by all the people in the world and would not come at other’s expense. Quoting “debt trap,” which is known as exercised by China, as the problem in the development of countries in the Global South, Kishida appealed sustainable contribution of Japanese companies, which would be aimed at eliminating disparities and poverty.

 

During the visit to Latin America, Kishida offered further support for Brazil in the meeting with the Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, establishing frameworks for sustainable development and carbon neutral. In the meeting with the President of Paraguay, Santiago Pena, Kishida reconfirmed intolerance against unilateral change of status quo by force, concerning Paraguay’s unique position in Latin America that maintains diplomatic tie with Taiwan. Kishida’s efforts are mainly pulling the countries out of influence of China.

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