TOKYO – For Japan, it was the first time its new prime minister has hosted international envoys. For the United States, it was the first trip to Asia by its top diplomat in more than a year.
So when Prime Minister Yoshihid Suga and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo greeted each other in front of a bank of American and Japanese flags in Tokyo on Tuesday, they exchanged views on what is the longest fist bump in their countries’ seven-decade alliance. Connects 15-seconds of knuckles.
Despite Japan’s cautious approach to opening the White House and its borders, despite the growing coronavirus outbreak from China, . For foreign tourists.
The Tokyo meeting, which included the foreign ministers of Australia and India – the other two members of a strategic partnership known as the Quad – was scheduled before President Trump signed the coronavirus agreement. The fact that it moved forward, despite many summits moved along the epidemic during the epidemic, indicated that parts of the Trump administration value multilateral relations despite its “America First” agenda.
Gordon Flack, chief executive of the Perth USACIA Center at the University of Western Australia, said that now Washington D.C. This is a really positive development considering all the madness going on in India.
“The fact that the U.S., despite all the other problems in the world and the White House’s domestic problems, shows that the U.S. also shows significant levels on these three major partners.” “Without Japan, India and Australia and Australia, there is really no regional response to the security challenges of the coming decades.”
There is little question about where those challenges are coming from.
As Chinese military aggression in the region escalates and Beijing disputes Hong Kong, the four countries are looking for ways to co-operate militarily, economically and technologically – and caution will send a message of unity to Beijing.
As Mr. Trump has overtaken the United States on the global stage, China has stepped up its influence in the region and the U.S. There was a significantly fertile atmosphere to minimize the impact, which is the Chinese objective. Instead, his ening ndi gauvansh and dictatorship “served to terrorize the whole region.”
Yet only the United States, which has taken a particularly tough line against China – pushing relations to their lowest point in decades – seems ready to name a clear threat in Tokyo.
Mr Pompeo said in remarks on Tuesday evening that members of the quad needed to protect their people from China’s “exploitation, corruption and coercion” and blamed China for the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. A statement from Mr Pompeo’s meeting with the Australian Foreign Minister, Misris Payne, described his discussion of “China’s evil activities in the region”.
Ms. Penn’s comments on Facebook about the meeting with Mr. Pompeo did not call China by name, but its meaning was clear.
“Whether it is individual human rights, a market-based economy, facing adversity or creating more resilience in our supply chains, our common values and interests mean that we have a vision for a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” he wrote. Let’s share. ”
Diplomats and analysts are well aware that there is diversity on the “free and open Indo-Pacific” catch line – which was commented by Mrs. Payne; Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi; And Indian Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar – all directed at China.
American officials have followed the example of the Belizeans raised by Mr. Trump, who has sat down with China to improve his chances of re-election. Other members of the quad, given their geographical proximity and economic dependence on China, were more aware of their criticisms.
A day before arriving in Tokyo, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato, said, “Stable relations with the two largest economic powers, the US and China, are extremely important in the international community.”
Japan, aware of the economic power of its largest trading partner and its own limited military options, needs to create a delicate balance act, experts said.
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“When we talk about QD, some people worry about what they think about it,” said Narushige Misishita, director of the Security and International Studies program at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. “If we talk about China in this setting, China sees this as a compromise conspiracy, so the spirit is still there.”
Quad, Mr. Mishishita said, “It’s about China, but we say it’s not about China. Everyone knows it. China knows it. We don’t need to tell it much.”
Cooperation between the four countries, formally known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, began in 2004 to coordinate disaster relief and humanitarian assistance following the devastating tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
But the factionalism developed into a diplomatic and security partnership that saw Beijing as a direct attempt to curb its emergence, Australia and India became wary of the reaction from China, and the group broke up.
“It was too early,” said Lavina Lee, a senior spokeswoman for international relations at Sydney’s McCurry University. The early version of the quad “created a dilemma of pre-evacuation and safety where nothing exists.”
“But now we’re at a very different stage in history,” de Lee said. Lee said. “Since 2014, China has become increasingly sharp and aggressive in terms of its territorial aggression and ambitions where it sees itself in the region, and what is not clear under cowardly terms.”
In June, China and India were engaged in their worst border clash in 40 years and as relations between Australia and China soured, Australia blamed Beijing for the increase in cyberetics and began investigating government conspiracy allegations of tampering with the country’s politics.
Japan has also become more vigilant as China has frequently sent ships for patrolling waters around the Senkakus, islands administered by Japan, but islands fought by China.
“If you had van diagrams and kept up with all their definitions, I think you would see a huge overlap in how you think about the security of each of these four countries – that there should be freedom of navigation and open trade, and that Bonnie S., director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Glaser said countries should not be forced to accept consequences that are against their interests.
While there was no joint statement on the agenda of the four countries, they expected to discuss the possible development of investment funds to help Asian countries develop infrastructure projects, a model of China’s Belt and Road initiative; Cooperation on supply chain to reduce dependence on China; Development of 5G networks that are not based on Chinese technology giant Huawei; And Australia invites Australia to join a naval exercise with three other countries.
The allies have “enough hits and are ready to work together,” said Tanvi Madan, director of the India project at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, and the heat from Beijing comes to work with each other.
Makiko Inoi and Hikari Hida contributed to the research.
