April 2024 proved to be a hectic month in Asian- US politics.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a condition visit to the US earlier in the month, which included a sit-down with President Joe Biden on April 10. For the first-ever US-Japan-Philippines multilateral mountain the following morning, both gentlemen were joined by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Finally, on April 23, a former prime minister and leading number in Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Taro Aso, met with Donald Trump in New York.
The recent wave of political activity highlights two things: a strong desire on Japan’s part to increase its involvement with Washington as part of an Indo-Pacific strategy, and genuine concerns in Tokyo that the US might not be as enthusiastic, regardless of who is in charge of the nation after the election this year.
Friends and inc- administrators
The Chinese government has made it abundantly clear that it is all in on the US-US ally under Kishida’s leadership. Kishida was elected prime minister in 2021.
Kishida hopes to make Japan’s claim to be not only the United States ‘ most powerful ally in East Asia, but also as a co-steward of the “liberal international order,” or the international conventions and rules established by leading economies after World War II.
Kishida’s intentions were made apparent in Japan’s 2022 National Security Strategy, which detailed Japan’s brief- and moderate- term corporate goals.
Although it stated a commitment to “unprecedented security saving” and the creation of new defence capabilities, it did so in light of Japan’s commitment to its connection with the US as” the core of Japan’s national protection plan.”
The diplomatic relationship with the US should go beyond conventional security concerns, it is said to include the provision of financial security through efforts to strengthen the resilience of global supply chains, and it should also promote economic cooperation between allies.
Investing in partnerships
In large part, Japan’s need to develop its association with the US has been reciprocated by Washington.
Closer relations are in line with the Biden administration’s strategy of making alliance investments a key component of its international policy. The Biden White House has put a particular emphasis on boosting security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific area.
In order to accomplish this, Biden and Kishida presented a new Japan-US-Australia weather missile defense system and a shared US-Japan joint control center at their April meeting. Additionally, improved US Coast Guard education for its Eastern lovers and joint patrols in the South China Sea were revealed at the multilateral meeting with the Philippines.
While the inherent, if not obvious, objective of such creative efforts is often the perceived risk of China to local security, the strategy has wider geopolitical implications.
The US and Japan are promoting a worldwide system based on the existing progressive global order while forging partnerships between like-minded nations. This emphasises the various ideologies held by governments and nondemocracies. In other words, they are attempting to produce stability through difference – or an “us versus them” plan – rather than idealism.
The US has actively promoted better relations between Japan and South Korea, two political US friends who have been greatly divided over how to resolve after Japan established the Korean Peninsula in the early 20th centuries.
Tokyo’s potential impact on a Trump victory
However, despite the US and Japan being at odds with one another over many concerns affecting the Indo-Pacific region, the recent diplomatic campaign in Washington and the visits ‘ lead-up also reveal areas of disagreement and concern for Japan.
The Biden administration has been more interested in focusing on protection measures, despite Kishida’s emphasis on the US-Japan monetary partnership as a win-win situation.
Indeed, on trade and economic issues, Washington is n’t quite on the same page as its Asian partners.
For example, Biden has come out against the proposed order of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel. Biden’s reluctance reflections a prevalent belief in economic patriotism in Washington, steeped in local politics.
However, Tokyo’s concerns extend beyond the hésitation of the current US administration regarding Chinese purchase.
A probable second Trump presidency could, a feared in Tokyo, undermine the efforts made by the Biden administration to revitalize the Indo-Pacific alliance system.
Additionally, it might lead to more economic patriotism in the US. Under Trump, the US saw taxes as a key international policy device, while portraying relationships as interpersonal. For instance, Trump required that Japan pay a four-fold increase in annual payment to US troops stationed it.
Also under the Trump presidency, and to Japan’s astonishment, the US left the Trans- Pacific Partnership bilateral trade package, which continued without the US in the type of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership.
Japan on PR rude
Japan is beginning to protect itself from a loss suffered by Biden in November and lay the groundwork for what some in Tokyo hope will be a fruitful partnership with Trump, if he win the presidency once more.
Shinzo Abe, a former Japanese prime minister, was killed in 2022, and Trump have forged this kind of connection. And it was interesting that Aso, Abe’s former deputy prime minister, met with Trump in New York to rekindle a personal relationship, despite Kishida’s government’s description of Aso’s visit as one of an adult lawmaker acting in his own power.
Kishida is aware that a Trump administration could harm Japan’s pursuits and Pacific region goals. Isolationism is influencing American political leaders in common. In addition, the American public is becoming less and less convinced about the benefits of business and the crucial part the US does play internationally.
Kishida made a point to speak with both the Biden presidency and Congress, as well as the US business community and the general public in his US attend.
It was a public relations visit as well as a leadership mountain.
The US must be a trustworthy alliance, Kishida said in his remarks to Congress, which was the only second by a Japanese prime minister, and that” the citizens of Japan are with you, side by side, to ensure the success of liberty.”
In a later attend to North Carolina, where he toured a Toyota electric vehicle battery manufacturer and a HondaJet company, he reiterated the ties between the two countries while highlighting the good financial contribution Japan is making in the US.
Looking for a stable relationship
Japan embraces its role as a contributing member of the liberal international order. Japan rose up as a frontrunner to keep and advance that order in the wake of the US’s exit from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the uncertainty surrounding Washington’s global role during the Trump administration.
However, Japan wants the US to keep playing a leading role.
In light of the high-profile encounters between Biden and Trump, the leader of Japan’s political elite, and other figures, Tokyo wants the US to be a trustworthy partner for both regional security and economic growth.
However, US domestic politics are making it more challenging to achieve this.
At Drake University, Mary M. McCarthy is an assistant professor of political science.
This article was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.