No Surprise Is the Greatest Surprise

It is likely that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba finished his first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump with no major failure. He could achieve not only U.S. commitment to security in Asia-Pacific region, but also a hope for maintaining Nippon Steel’s deal with US Steel. More importantly for him in domestic politics, the opposition parties positively evaluated Ishiba’s diplomatic achievement. However, Ishiba returns home with a bunch of homework. 

The statement delivered by two leaders underscored U.S. commitment to security of Japan and the region. They reaffirmed that Article 5 of U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, which entails U.S. responsibility for defense of Japan, would be applied to Senkaku Islands.

 

It also confirmed continuity of regional multilateral security frameworks through QUAD (with Australia and India) or trilateral cooperation including Republic of Korea or Philippines, which were established or enhanced under the leadership of former President Joe Biden.

 

The price of those U.S. commitments was one trillion dollar. Ishiba pledged in the meeting to raise Japan’s investment to U.S. from $800 billion to unprecedented $1 trillion. The statement described that two leaders would seek to promote business opportunities and significantly increase bilateral investment and employment.

 

Ishiba explained Nippon Steel’s taking over of US Steel, the deal which had been dismissed by Biden, not as acquisition but as investment. “Investment to US Steel produces goods contributing to the world with Japanese technology. I share a notion with the president that Japan’s investment does not cause unilateral benefit of one of us,” said Ishiba in the joint press conference.

 

Assessments of Ishiba’s debut in bilateral diplomacy with Trump was something moderate. While most people in Japan were skeptical about Ishiba’s capability to build a close personal relationship with Trump, Ishiba surprisingly avoided receiving hard demands from Trump such as imposing higher rate of tariff on Japanese products or request of further defense spendings.

 

“No surprise was the greatest surprise,” said one of the lawmakers of the Liberal Democratic Party. A leader of LDP Upper House members welcomed outcomes of the summit meeting, expecting their positive impact on the Upper House election this summer. Even the leader of Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Yoshihiko Noda, recognized certain achievements brought by Ishiba.

 

Whether the meeting was successful or not depends on how Ishiba will follow the outcome. Althouth Ishiba avoided direct accusation, there is some criticisms in opposition parties about not raising issues on Trump’s excessive argument over sovereignty of Canada, Greenland or Panama. Ishiba’s pledge on purchasing American LNG may affect Japan’s goal of reducing greenhouse gasses emission.

 

As the minority government in the Diet continues, Ishiba cannot be sure to improve the approval rate in the polls, even with his diplomatic gains.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amendment of Local Autonomy Law

The House of Representatives started discussion on revision of the Local Autonomy Law, which would vest the national government a power to instruct local government in an emergency. It may change the relationship between the national and local government, which has been recognized as equal. The opposition parties oppose the amendment, arguing that it would give the national government an excessive power.   With the Meiji Restoration, the national government abolished the feudal system, introducing modern governance. However, its autonomy was not sufficient. The governor of each prefecture was appointed by the national government. The local governments subordinated to the national government. It was as late as 2000 when  the Comprehensive Decentralization Law  was enacted and the relationship between the national and local government was defined as equal.   The national government found inconvenience in the relationship between the national and local government, when ...
Read more

Request for Final Nuclear Disposal Site

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry requested Genkai Town, Saga, to accept “literature survey” for building a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste. Genkai is going to answer within this month. If it accepts, it will be the third place to accept that survey, following two places in Hokkaido. Main reason to accept the survey is supposed to be subsidy from the national government.   Japan has no final disposal site. Among all 54 reactors in 17 nuclear power generation plant, 12 reactors of 6 plants are operating. The rest of them are not in operation, some of which are determined to be decommissioned. Used nuclear fuels are stocked in each plant, 　 or have sent to a reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori. There are two plans to stock nuclear wastes in the intermediate facility for disposal, one is already built and another is still in negotiation.   Nuclear Fuel Final Disposal Act in 2000 determines to bury nuclear waste in the underground. Literature survey, ...
Read more

Not A Royal Wedding

The bride called her husband an indispensable existence and their marriage was necessary choice to protect their mind. The groom insisted on his life as only once and his right to be with his loved one. Her father wanted his daughter’s marriage to be celebrated by the people. The people were not sure whether the family was happy as a whole. Is this the traditional Japanese social system that makes no one happy? Mako Komuro, as known as Princess Mako during her life in one of the royal family Akishino, held on Tuesday a press conference with her husband Kei Komuro, right after submitting marriage report to local government. It was something different from ordinary Q&A session, because Mako was afraid of her mental uneasiness brought by some questions not based on truth. So, the event was actually one-sided speech to the reporters. Mako emphasized that the Kei’s decision of studying abroad five years ago had not been his original idea, but a result of her request to establish an over...
Read more