Kishida is perhaps one of the very few Japanese prime ministers in the post-Cold War era who failed to visit Washington in the first 10 months of his term.
From the objective reality, Japan began to hold a regular diet on January 17, and the meeting will last until June 15. After that, Kishida Fumio will participate in the upper house elections held from June 25 to July 25. His tight schedule, combined with the fact that Aumechjong swept the day, seemed unable to take care of his close ally, the United States.
But in the diplomatic arena, immaculate is just rhetoric. In the same situation, Kishida Fumio's predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, made a different choice. Suga once took time to visit the United States during the regular congressional meetings, when the new crown virus was raging. However, this choice caused his approval rating to plummet, becoming one of the triggers for his ouster.
As a result, Japan offers a "fatalistic" interpretation of Kishida's choice — not wanting to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors.
Behind any interpretation is the national interest. In a global landscape full of uncertainty, the Japanese people's expectation for Kishida Fumio is to respond to economic issues and ensure economic growth. Whether he can achieve this goal is closely related to how he handles Sino-US relations.
Hong Kong's "South China Morning Post" published an article on the 20th that Kishida Fumio is pushing Japan into a China-friendly track step by step. But as Foreign Minister Lin Fangzheng described, instead of using Friendly to describe [China policy], Kishida's diplomatic initiatives are more out of pragmatism that balances public opinion and diplomatic needs.
On the economic level, he faces grim realities. In addition to fulfilling campaign promises – wealth growth and distribution drive – Kishida also promised the international community that Japan would be "carbon neutral" by 2050. This means that Japan's utilization of sustainable energy will increase from 18% in 2019 to more than 70% in 2050. To this end, Japan needs to import more graphite, rare earths, copper, nickel, zinc and lithium to increase its share of sustainable energy. According to the International Energy Agency, China currently accounts for more than 60% of the world's graphite production, rare earth production accounts for 60% of the world's production, and zinc production accounts for 30% of the world's production. In addition, China dominates the refining and processing market for six key minerals.
In this sense, Japan needs China.
But Japan's reliance on defense issues has prevented Japan from expressing its needs, and Kishida has sought to find a delicate balance between the two countries. In this regard, the South China Morning Post commented that his initiatives are full of political skills.
For example, on December 17 last year, less than 24 hours after the U.S. Senate passed the Law on Preventing Forced Uighur Labor, Liberal Democratic Party Secretary Toshimitsu Motegi shelved a resolution condemning China.
It is not difficult to find that the Chinese Foreign Ministry's attitude toward this issue is quite tough, and the attitude of Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin at that time was that if the US side insisted on taking actions that harmed China's interests, China would definitely respond resolutely.
Then, less than 24 hours after Biden signed the bill on December 23, Japan decided to send Seiko Hashimoto, Chairman of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee, President of the Japan Olympic Committee (JOC), and President of the Japan Paralympic Committee (JPC) to the Beijing Olympic Games. Among them, Hashimoto Seiko served as chairman of the LDP Senate and vice minister of foreign affairs.
In this way, Japan got rid of the suspicion of following the "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing Winter Olympics by the United States on the table.
At the same time, on the most sensitive issue of sino-Japanese territorial disputes, Kishida Fumio adopted a downward adjustment approach.
He appointed Tetsuo Saito, the deputy head of the Komeito Party and a pro-China figure in Japan, as Minister of Land and Communications in charge of the affairs of the Japan Coast Guard. At the same time, the budget allocated to the Japanese Coast Guard this year is only 0.45% higher than the previous year.
Both moves send a clear signal that Japan does not want to deteriorate its relations with China over territorial disputes.
Further, in the important post of Foreign Minister, Kishida appointed Lin Fangzheng, known as the "Zhihua Faction", after serving as president of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union (JCPOA) for four years. In order to "avoid unnecessary misunderstandings", Lin Fangzheng resigned after taking up his new position.
The South China Morning Post analyzed that because there are still doubts about the US commitments at the defense level, Kishida prefers that Asian countries will be at peace, including China, of course. This means that Kishida is focusing on building a more constructive relationship with China
This is certainly not something that the United States is happy to see. There is currently a saying circulating in Japanese politics that the Biden administration does not welcome Kishida's ambiguous attitude toward China.
Whether it is true or not, Japan is already at a critical juncture in making its choices.
Author: Peach Crispy Lady
Editor: Su Zhan