After Japanese officials finish practicing their foreign policy irony, hopefully they will settle on a serious and sustained national security approach to the growing China threat.
Leading up to and during Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s visit to Washington, the administration of US President Joe Biden pressed for a more forthcoming statement on the regional dangers presented by China’s aggressive behavior.
The US effort failed to eke out more than a tepid expression of hope for “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” Mild as that aspirational expression was, it was touted by the administration and the global news media as some kind of diplomatic breakthrough because it last appeared in a joint statement in 1969.
