Kishida’s veiled China barbs dismissed
Despite a softer tone on China, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida used veiled barbs in talking about Beijing at the June 10-12 Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, and experts said that behind it all is a desire to improve his political standing and his country’s military capability.
“People create their own demons,” said Wang Qi, a researcher of East Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. “By saying ‘Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow’, Kishida has obviously created a demon in his mind, making out that other countries would be terrified to take sides so that a more divided Asia will give Tokyo the chance to shake off shackles of its pacifist constitution.”
Kishida, the first Japanese prime minister in eight years to deliver a keynote speech at the Asia security conference, did not criticize Beijing directly, but his 40-minute speech was replete with thinly disguised accusations against China over issues including China’s internal affairs such as the Taiwan question.
In the South China Sea, Kishida questioned whether “rules are really being honored”. In the East China Sea, Kishida said Japan is taking a firm stand against “unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force” and said “activities not respecting people’s diversity, free will, and human rights are taking place” across the Taiwan Straits.
In conclusion, Kishida outlined a plan to “fundamentally reinforce Japan’s defense capabilities within the next five years”, saying Japan will set out a new national security strategy by the end of the year and secure a substantial increase in Japan’s defense budget.
In response, He Lei, former deputy head of the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Military Sciences, who also attended the meeting, rejected Kishida’s arguments, saying Japanese politicians’ suggestions on reinforcing the country’s military capabilities are “very dangerous”.
In regard to Taiwan, He warned that Japan could see itself “suffer sooner or later” for “meddling” in China’s internal affairs.
Wang, at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Japan is using “crisis narrative”, that “a potential conflict may soon break out in Asia”, to scare regional countries into taking sides so that a divided Asia is created.