Diplomacy between Major Nations and Japan: Create a Unified Core of Mid-Level Nations

How should major powers threatening world peace and stability be handled? Japanese diplomacy is a key issue to be addressed in Japan's House of Representative elections.

The greatest challenges to be faced are the relationship with the U.S., our ally, and the relationship with China, our neighbor.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has issued a succession of “America First” policies, perplexing the world.

The 2025 National Security Strategy, released last December against a backdrop of overwhelming military pressure, was clear in articulating a position of control over the Western Hemisphere, with a focus on North and South America.

The attack on Venezuela, occurring early in the year, was an embodiment of this position. The U.S. is intensifying aggression toward various countries through thoughtless behavior with short-sighted gains, such as the demand to acquire Denmark's self-governing territory of Greenland.

Beginning with the Paris Agreement, an international framework of global warming countermeasures, the U.S. initiated a withdrawal from a succession of international cooperative efforts toward solving climate problems.

As a consequence of this inclination to strengthen the Western Hemisphere, the U.S.' presence in Asia has weakened. China could take advantage of this to further ramp up its hegemonistic behavior.

In order to check China's influence in the Indo-Pacific region, the Trump administration has demanded that all its allies, including Japan and South Korea, increase defense spending to 5% of their gross domestic products.

If defense spending is increased in accordance with these demands, there is concern that China, a nuclear power, might further escalate its arms buildup.

Japan's focus on diplomacy as the basis of relations with the U.S. has not changed. Isn't Japan's role as an ally to honestly identify issues if there are problems, while maintaining strong ties? Japan must not just fall in line with the U.S.

The relationship with China is a challenge. Since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's statement to the National Diet of Japan, regarding a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, relationship has deteriorated.

The gap between China, which strongly demanded a retraction of the statement, and Japan, which has refused, has only widened. The influence has not been limited to politics; it has ripples in economics and human interactions as well.

China, now the No. 2 world economic superpower, is leveraging its great military power and economic might, intensifying its attempts to unilaterally change the status quo. Japan should strengthen its diplomacy to mitigate tensions with China.

To face China, cooperation with the U.S. and South Korea is essential. We would also like to ask each political party about its strategy for drawing China into dialogue and cooperation.

In January, at an international conference held in Switzerland, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech evoked a large response.

Due to conflict between major nations, the international order has collapsed, and multinational cooperation has weakened. Even in bilateral negotiations with major nations, there is no choice but to accept the terms that are offered.

Taking into account the reality of such a world, Carney asserted that if mid-level nations such as Canada unite, they “can build something bigger, better, stronger, more just.”

Shouldn't Japan take on the responsibility of being at the core of these mid-level nations? We hope that Japan joins hands with European countries, Canada, South Korea and others to demonstrate resolve in prohibiting oppression from major powers.