Japan’s Values Diplomacy

[Valin]

World Affairs:

Gordon Chang

1/7/13

 

The new Japanese prime minister reiterated his “values diplomacy” recently, confirming his nation’s “pillar” ties with the US and reaching out to two countries in particular, Australia and India. “Freedom, democracy, and fundamental human rights,” Shinzo Abe told the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun in a December 28th interview. “We will deepen ties with nations that share and uphold these values.”

 

Abe’s words are no aberration for Tokyo. In November 2006, Taro Aso, when he was foreign minister, proposed an “arc of freedom and prosperity” for Asia. Then, the concept went nowhere, as Asian diplomats were optimistic about engaging China. Now, however, a grand coalition of democracies is in fact slowly forming in the region, backed up by President Obama’s “pivot” or “rebalancing” to East Asia.

 

And it is not hard to see why free societies are turning to each other for support. China has stepped up its probing of neighbors from India in the south to South Korea in the north. Among Beijing’s targets is Japan. The flashpoint in East Asia at the moment is the string of Japanese-administered islets in the East China Sea. Japan calls them the Senkakus and China the Diaoyus.

 

(Snip)