Facing Beijing, the Washington-Tokyo Approach

By aligning with nationalist Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Barack Obama clouds the United States’ message to China.

Hasn’t Barack Obama learned his lesson? American presence in the Pacific – the White House’s strategic priority – cannot be based on the idea of excluding Beijing. China’s economic weight acts as a magnet for the whole region. While Washington recently wanted to block the Chinese initiative of a new Asian Development Bank, its European and Asian allies have not been easily taken in by the United States. They have all joined the project. Except for Japan.

A Japan that finds itself honored in Washington. Shinzo Abe was the first Japanese head of government to speak in front of the U.S. Congress, 70 years after Hiroshima and the subsequent surrender. In a press release, the two countries described their alliance as a “cornerstone” of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region. But Obama, above all else, is obsessed with a goal: signing a Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement with 12 other countries, who would represent 40 percent of the global gross domestic product, as quickly as possible. Japan, still a protectionist nation, is the centerpiece of this construction. Meanwhile, China has yet to be invited.

As the American president explained to The Wall Street Journal: “If we don’t write the rules, China will write the rules out in that region. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) thus becomes, contrary to what Washington assures us, a tool with which to contain China. Facing the Chinese army’s increase in power and facing China’s territorial claims, Washington’s idea is to reinforce its relations with the adjacent nations. To slow down all forms of adventurism on the part of Beijing, a message is necessary. But it is a mistake to do so by marginalizing China both economically and commercially.

China aspires to a role as regional leader. But in this arena, it remains a good student of the world economic order. The surest method of avoiding conflict is to help with its economic emergence while denouncing its political drift. It is necessary to join China, rather than exclude it, in the development of constantly evolving trade rules. Obama seems to have understood this until the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last fall in Beijing. The alignment with Japan and Shinzo Abe clouds this message.

And what an alignment it is. In a transitioning Asia, Japan remains tense and incapable of becoming comfortable with its past, as Angela Merkel stressed in a rare moment of diplomatic candor during a recent visit to Tokyo. If Germany was able to reintegrate into the community of nations after the Nazi catastrophe, it is because it “looked its past in the face.” The message could not be any clearer in a Japan where leaders refuse to fully apologize for their past militarism. In Washington, Shinzo Abe was satisfied with simply expressing his regrets. That’s not enough.

In redrafting an article of its constitution that since the end of the war has limited the use of its force only for defensive means, Japan aspires to “normalcy.” The United States finds nothing wrong with this. On the contrary; just like it reaffirms its support of Tokyo’s claims, which are fragile at best, on the Senkaku Islands.

In order to be firm when facing its authoritarian rivals, the United States should be demanding regarding its democratic allies who pose a problem, as in the case of Japan. It’s a matter of credibility.