Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently delivered a speech at a joint session of the US Congress, the second after Abe. For this performance, painstakingly put a lot of effort into it. For Kishida, a more realistic frame of reference is not Abe, but South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol. When Yoon Suk-yeol visited the United States last year, he sang "American faction" and set off a Korean wave in the American political arena. How can Kishida lose, he must not show his head. And this speech show has also become a competition between Kishida and Yoon Suk-yeol who will hold the American foot more.
Objectively speaking, Kishida's speech show was co-performed by him with members of the US Congress. When Kishida entered, some parliamentarians stood up and applauded one by one, giving him enough face. Pelosi also walked through the crowd and shook hands with Kishida. Until he officially took the stage to give a speech, the applause barely stopped.
Kishida opened with an American-style self-deprecation, saying in slower but clear English, "Thank you, I have never heard such warm applause in the Japanese Diet."
For dignitaries from around the world, it is often seen as a supreme honor to be invited to speak at a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives, symbolizing the high point of the relationship between the two countries. How many dignitaries can come to this stage when visiting the United States are like carp crossing a river? However, this kind of speech is just a package for the president to invite a state visit, and the applause is only applause, and it is not costly.
Kishida's speech was ingenious from the start, appealing to Americans, and it was clear that it had been carefully polished.
He introduced his wife, "The fact that I married Yuko should make you confident in all my decisions", and received another round of applause.
One of the presentation skills is empathy, and Kishida's secret weapon is that he once attended elementary school in Queens, New York for 3 years, and is nostalgic to hot dogs, professional baseball, cartoons, etc. Kishida's father was a Japanese trade official based in the United States at the time, and the little bits and pieces of his experience in the United States are the code of empathy and empathy with members of Congress. During the 35-minute speech, there were about 16 standing ovations from the Legislature.
The "gunner" of this speech was not Kishida himself, but a master who had written a speech for Reagan, and Kishida himself listened to the recording many times, repeatedly polished, polished, scrutinized, and imitated the exercises, in order to become an instant hit. Although there was a teleprompter on the scene, it can still be seen that Kishida's own manuscript has been marked.
In addition to the emotional collusion, the main theme of Kishida's speech was to unite the United States and resist China, revealing an unreserved sense of surrender, which is particularly in line with the appetite of those anti-China parliamentarians. On security issues, Kishida was willing to be a vassal, mentioning that although the leadership of the United States is indispensable, there is no need to shoulder it.
He called out to "lonely and tired Americans who are alone in maintaining the international order": "I know that it is a heavy burden to shoulder such expectations. As America's closest friends, the Japanese people are fighting side by side with you...... You are not alone, we are with you". He even mentioned that Japan's national security strategy and thinking have changed, and that it is no longer a silent ally, and that "I myself am on the front line of deepening the bilateral alliance," and that he is eager to make a bloody alliance with the Americans on the spot.
"The world needs the United States to continue to play a key role in national affairs," Kishida said. I sense that some Americans are developing self-doubts about their role in the world." Kishida is even helping Americans regain their self-confidence, and he has really put a lot of effort into rhetoric.
But by saying this, he has offended too many countries in the Global South, especially Iraq, Syria, Libya, Pakistan, Cambodia, Laos, Chile and other countries, all of whom have been victims of the war launched by the United States and the CIA-backed coup d'état.
Kishida said that the Russian-Ukrainian war has entered its third year, and "today's Ukraine may be tomorrow's East Asia", and when he said this on this occasion, he was competing with Yoon Suk-yeol to be the future "East Asia Zelensky".
Judging from the tone of Kishida's visit to the United States, it is to ignore historical issues, focus on the future of US-Japan relations, and transform the relationship between the two countries from the model of "US spear and Japanese shield" to "US-Japan immortal alliance".
In this sense, Kishida's visit to the United States is not under Yoon Suk-yeol to bring relations between the two countries closer. Yoon Suk-yeol's state visit in April last year was to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, and he also addressed the members of the Senate and House of Representatives in English throughout the whole process, and he also played a self-deprecating meme, "Even if you don't know my name, you should have heard of BTS, although BTS entered the White House before me, but I was ahead of them in Congress", a performance of "Korean-style Ah Q spirit" won the hearts of Americans.
In order to please the Americans, he did not hesitate to make a big fuss about the Battle of Changjin Lake, saying that the 1st Marine Division of the United States "miraculously broke through the siege of 120,000 Chinese troops" in the Battle of Changjin Lake. The sons and daughters of America are dying to defend a country they never knew existed, and people they had never met."
The battlefield, which even the Americans themselves wanted to forget, was actually beautified by Yoon Suk-yeol as a "monument" for the two countries to share weal and woe.
It was a contest between Kishida and Yoon Suk-yeol to please the United States on behalf of Japan and South Korea, respectively, and both countries carefully planned both visits, both of which vigorously emphasized their determination to ally with the United States and strengthen their will to join forces against China.
What the two have in common is that domestic support is hovering at a low altitude. In terms of foreign policy, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's various initiatives have been questioned by the outside world, saddled with accusations that it is too pro-American, and the domestic economy is weak. The ruling People's Power lost the National Assembly election, and Yoon Suk-yeol will be lame in power for the next three years.
The approval rating of Kishida's cabinet fell to 16.6% recently. If it falls below 30%, it will be called "dangerous waters" by Japanese public opinion, and less than 20% will be "down-to-power waters". Kishida's opening sentence to the Americans, "I have never enjoyed such warm applause in the Japanese Diet," is nothing more than an indication that he has done something that the Japanese people do not want to applaud.
Kishida and Yoon Suk-yeol tried their best to keep out diplomatic points in the face of domestic political challenges, and this kind of "external support" finally made the two only gain face in front of the Americans, but it was difficult to get inside the country.
The most scheming are still the Americans, the host Biden has both face and inside, blowing the "Korean breeze" or "Japanese breeze" in Washington for a day, he can pull the guarantee of these two East Asian allies, plus Philippine President Marcos, who specially came to sponsor him in friendship, the United States has tightened the encirclement network against China.