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Japan Walks Fine Line Between China, US05/06 06:17
Just as Japan's top trade negotiator traveled to Washington for another
round of tariff talks last week, a bipartisan delegation bearing the name of
"Japan-China Friendship" wrapped up a visit to Beijing.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Just as Japan's top trade negotiator traveled to
Washington for another round of tariff talks last week, a bipartisan delegation
bearing the name of "Japan-China Friendship" wrapped up a visit to Beijing.
A week earlier, the head of the junior party in Japan's ruling coalition was
in Beijing delivering a letter from Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba
addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Details of the letter are unknown,
but the two sides discussed U.S. tariffs in addition to bilateral issues.
Among all U.S. allies being wooed by Beijing in its tariff stare-down with
Washington, Japan stands out.
It is a peculiar case not only for its staunch commitment to its alliance
with the United States but also for its complicated and uneasy history with the
neighboring Asian giant -- particularly the war history from the 20th century
that still casts a shadow over the politics of today.
"On one hand, they are neighbors and they are important economic partners.
There's a lot that connects Japan and China," said Matthew Goodman, director of
the Greenberg Center for Geoeconomics at the Council on Foreign Relations. "But
on the other hand, I think there are limits to how far they're going to lean
into China."
While Japan won't walk away from its alliance with the United States, the
linchpin of the Asian country's diplomacy and security policies, "it's also
true that the tariffs and uncertainty that Trump has created for Japan is
really shaking things up in Tokyo," Goodman said.
Last month, President Donald Trump announced a 24% tariff on Japanese goods
in a sweeping plan to levy duties on about 90 countries. The White House has
since paused the tariffs but a 10% baseline duty on all countries except China,
allowing time for negotiations. Still, Trump's 25% tax on aluminum, steel and
auto exports have gone into effect for Japan.
The tariff moves, as well as Trump's "America First" agenda, have cast
doubts among the Japanese if the United States is still a dependable ally,
while China is rallying support from tariff-threatened countries -- including
Japan.
In Beijing, Japan sees positive signs
When Tetsuo Saito led Japan's Komeito Party delegation to Beijing in late
April, China hinted at difficulty in its tariff dispute with the United States,
signaling its willingness to improve ties with Tokyo. An unnamed senior Chinese
official said his country was "in trouble" when discussing Trump's 145% tariff
on Chinese products, according to Japanese reports.
Saito's visit was soon followed by that of the bipartisan delegation of
Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union. Zhao Leji, Beijing's top
legislator, told the delegation that China's National People's Congress would
be "willing to carry out various forms of dialogue and exchanges."
Beijing did not lift a ban on Japan's seafood imports as the Japanese
delegates hoped, but it signaled positive signs on its assessment of the safety
of the discharges of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant. Beijing banned Japan's seafood products in 2023, citing
those concerns.
Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have long been rocky. In the past several
years, they squabbled not only over the seafood ban but also long-standing
territorial disputes over the Senkaku, or Diaoyu, islands in the East China
Sea, Beijing's growing military assertiveness and violence against Japanese
nationals in China -- an issue complicated by the nations' uneasy history.
Tokyo's closer ties with Washington during Joe Biden's presidency also upset
Beijing, which saw it as part of the U.S. strategy to contain China and has
lectured Tokyo to "face squarely and reflect on the history of aggression."
An imperial power in Asia for centuries, China fell behind Japan in the 19th
century when Japan began to embrace Western industrialization and grew into a
formidable economic and military power. It invaded China in the 1930s and
controlled the northeastern territory known as Manchuria. War atrocities,
including the Nanking Massacre and the use of chemical and biological weapons
and human medical experiments in Manchuria, have left deep scars in China. They
have yet to be healed, though Japan's conservative politicians today still
attempt to deny the aggression.
Ishiba, elected Japan's prime minister in October, has a more neutral view
on his country's wartime history than the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and
his two successors. Weeks after taking office, Ishiba held talks with Xi on the
sidelines of a leaders' summit.
Chinese scholars, however, see Tokyo's recent engagements with Beijing as a
pragmatic move to hedge against U.S. protectionism and not a long-term strategy
for stability with China.
The odds are low for Japan to move into China's orbit, Goodman said. "They
have for a long time had to manage an important but challenging relationship
with China," he said. "And that is, again, a long-standing problem for Japan,
going back centuries or millennia."
Seeking tariff deals and stable ties in the US
While Japan might welcome the friendlier tone from Beijing, it is trying to
stabilize Japan-U.S. relations under Trump's "America First" agenda, and it is
hoping to settle the tariff dispute without confronting Washington, with an eye
on preventing Beijing from exploiting any fallout in Japan-U.S. relations.
Japan was among the first countries to hold tariff talks with Washington.
During the first round in mid-April, Trump inserted himself into the
discussions, a sign of the high stakes for the United States to reach a deal
with Japan. The Trump administration reportedly pushed for Japan to buy more
U.S.-made cars and open its market to U.S. beef, rice and potatoes.
After the second round of negotiation in Washington last week, Ryosei
Akazawa, the country's chief tariff negotiator, said he pushed Japan's request
that the U.S. drop tariffs and was continuing efforts toward an agreement
acceptable to both sides. He said Japan's auto industry was already hurting
from the 25% tariff and that he needed to be "thorough but fast."
Asked about China, Akazawa said only that his country keeps watching the
U.S.-China tariff development "with great interest." He noted Japan's deep
trade ties with China.
Competing in Southeast Asia
While China and Japan are working to mend ties, the two are also competing
in the Southeast Asia region, where Trump has threatened high tariffs as well.
The region is deeply integrated into China's supply chain but under pressure
from the West to diversify and reduce its reliance on China. With younger and
growing populations as compared to East Asia, the region is considered an
important growth center.
Japan, as a major postwar development aid contributor, has gradually
regained trust in the region, which also was scarred by Japan's World War II
past.
On Wednesday, Ishiba returned from Vietnam and the Philippines after
agreeing with their leaders to further strengthen security and economic ties.
During the visit, Ishiba stressed Japan's commitment to maintaining and
strengthening a multilateral free-trade system in each country. Ishiba also had
telephone talks with his Malaysian and Singaporean counterparts earlier this
month about U.S. tariffs.
Just weeks earlier, Xi was in Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, also stressing
free trade and seeking stronger supply chains.
At a recent discussion at the Washington-based think tank Hudson Institute,
Itsunori Onodera, Japan's governing party policy chief, warned of "very
unstable" feelings among many Asian countries faced with high tariffs from the
United States.
"There's a danger they might become more distant and become closer to
China," Onodera said. "This is not something that Japan wants, either."
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