The central event of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s visit to the United States from February 6-8 was his talks with President Donald Trump.

One of the primary foreign policy concerns for the Japanese government, which came to power under Ishiba in October of last year, was understanding how to navigate relations with the new US administration – especially as it began sending signals that were far from reassuring. This was particularly true in the trade and economic sphere, an area where Japan has long benefited from its relationship with the US, earning around $70 billion annually.

It’s possible that, along with other exotic notions emerging in the initial foreign policy moves even before the new US administration officially took office (such as the intention to annex Greenland), Tokyo might have gotten the impression that its significance was diminishing, both in terms of the Indo-Pacific region (ITR) as a whole and in its relationship with its key ally there in particular. It may even have suspected that, fueled by election victory euphoria, the new American team (outright populists) had completely “lost it” regarding their assessments of the international arena.

However, the aforementioned “it,” if it did start to wander, quickly returned to its proper place. This is evidenced by actions related to the Panama Canal, which is once again (as during the War in the Pacific from 1941-1945) acquiring exceptional strategic significance, and the presence of the head of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (T. Iwaya) at D. Trump’s inauguration – that is, in effect, the US’s now main ally. The fact that the new administration’s understanding of what is happening in the world in general, and in the ITR in particular, more or less corresponds to realities is demonstrated by the content of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s brief report on T. Iwaya’s meeting with the new Secretary of State, M. Rubio.

The telephone conversation between the defense ministers of both countries, which took place a week later, also attests to this. As does the campaign of reprisals within the US itself........

© New Eastern Outlook