According to a recent poll conducted by Japan’s left-leaning Asahi Shimbun paper, US President Donald Trump’s increased taxes, destructive foreign policy, and insulting errors are alienating the populace. Similar destruction to confidence was found in a previous ballot in Taiwan.
The Asahi poll, which was conducted from late February through early April and was published in Japanese on April 27, yielded the next findings:
Is it preferable to accept or adopt an impartial position in US conversations?
Agree: 24 %
Taking a stand alone: 66 %
Do the US actually protect Japan in an emergency?
Well: 15 %
I don’t think so: 77 %
The international community” cannot rely very much on the United States” to maintain peace, according to 48 % of respondents, and 6 % said they” cannot rely at all on the United States.”
Only 43 % of respondents said that American democracy is setting a good example for other nations, compared to 54 % who said it is.
However, almost two-thirds of respondents do not want the Chinese government to change its “diplomatic goal” from the US to Asia, including China, despite the fact that the majority of respondents said Japan should be more impartial. Just 16 % of people believed that would be a wise decision.  ,
According to The Asahi, “in previous surveys, skeptics about Japan’s security plan were at most only under 60 %,” but this figure stands out.
In Taiwan, a recent poll conducted by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation found that 81.9 % of respondents thought Trump’s 32 % “reciprocal” tariffs were unreasonable, while 86.4 % anticipated they would have a significant impact on the country’s economy.
This implies that Trump’s taxes have created a profound and common sense of crisis in the Taiwanese public, according to the Foundation.
Additionally, only 31.4 % of Taiwanese respondents said they thought the US was still dependable despite being asked if Taiwan had still rely on it.
The majority of Japanese have lost confidence in the US as a result of Trump’s actions, especially the impact of the novel taxes, according to Foundation Chairman Michael You Ying-lung, who was cited by the South China Morning Post. When 57 % of Americans say the US is no longer reliable, that is more than just a statistical shift; it could also represent a turning point in public opinion.
It could also be a temporary emotional response, he added,” of course.” Depending on how Trump’s Taiwan plan develops,”…
However, Max Lo, senior director of the Taiwan International Strategic Study Society, said,” There’s a growing concern that Trump might handle Taiwan the same way he treats Ukraine, requiring more, offering less, and blaming the target when things go wrong.
At a legislative hearing the week before last, Shinji Oguma, a member of the Chinese opposition, compared President Trump to” a delinquent child extorting one.” If Japan complies with his “impossible demands of negotiation and offers,” it may set a bad case [once more ] if you get mugged and put cash in their hands.
Oguma expressed concern about the lack of emotional support for Trump from Chinese government authorities. Oguma stated this just two weeks after Minister of Economic Revitalization Ryosei Akazawa flew to Washington, DC to explore tariffs and trade.
Minister Akazawa is a ready and serious person, but is it secure for a significant person to travel there? You should never make compromises to someone who is not right, either, because he is not a direct person, so he didn’t listen to our right talk.
I sincerely hope you will never offer in to American fraudsters.
The Jakarta Globe, The Times of India, and Sankei Shimbun, Japan’s right-wing publication, all covered this history. The YouTube videos names almost 7, 000 comments and has 1.5 million views.
Oguma, a representative of Fukushima’s main opposition party in the House of Representatives, has the authority to say what Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his officials can’t or would prefer not to do.
Oguma traveled to the Foreign Correspondents ‘ Club of Japan on April 28 to develop on his notes and share his thoughts on the state of US-Japan relationships.
He emphasized that Japan should consider multilateralism rather than bilateralism in order to counteract their detrimental effects on the global market, noting that Trump’s tax and money policies don’t make sense.
Oguma is no anti-American. In truth, he is pro-American and has a certain fondness for British movies. He suggested that the council members view The Apprentice, the 2024 film about Trump’s first occupation, to learn about who he is and what he learned from his coach, Roy Cohn.
During America’s anti-communist Red Scare in the first 1950s, Cohn served as Senator Joe McCarthy’s general guidance. Trump presents the infamous Cohn with fake diamonds cuff links with the name” Trump” engraved on them in the video.
Oguma questioned whether US-Japan relations could regain their pre-Trump level, claiming that the empire has endurance, that Chinese people do not view Trump as America, and that a profit to civility is required. He doesn’t think that Japan has lost faith in the United States.
This might well be the case, according to surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center. According to them, the proportion of Japanese respondents who favor the US has decreased from 72 % in 2016 to 41 % in 2020, and is expected to increase to 70 % in 2024 under President Biden. As seen by the Biden leap, it appears as though Trump has already reached a new low, but it might immediately rise under his leadership.
In contrast, Japan is no choosing between the US and Asia, but rather is paying close attention to both, contrary to the arbitrary paradox posed by Asahi’s public opinion surveys.
Prime Minister Ishiba traveled to Hanoi on Sunday to initiate a conversation with Vietnam and the Philippines about trade and protection. Ishiba traveled to Southeast Asia for the second time since taking office as prime minister in October.
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