(MENAFN- Asia Times)
In the post-apocalyptic horror film“A Quiet Place” survivors try, by being completely quiet, to escape from blind alien invaders who possess an acute sense of hearing. Japan today, facing the return of Donald trump to the White House, also hopes to avoid the monster's attention.
“Being off the radar is the best strategy for us,” says Tokyo University scholar Sahashi Ryo, a prominent expert on international Politics in East Asia.
A former senior American official with long experience in Japan suggested to close friends that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba follow that approach, even advising him not to rush to visit Washington. But the prime minister, having decided instead to walk onto the path of danger, is scheduled to meet Trump at the White House on February 7.
Ishiba does not want to join the growing list of American allies who have made it on to Trump's target list – headed by Canada and Mexico, but including Panama, Denmark and, indeed, the entire European Union.
The latest back and forth on the tariffs imposed on Canada and Mexico – with China perhaps to follow – seems to reinforce the belief that Trump would simply use tariffs as a bargaining chip.
But in his own repeated remarks, it is clear that Trump sees tariff measures as a means not only to provide revenue but also to restructure the world economy and force production back to the United States.
Whatever Trump's intention, Ishiba comes bearing the usual basket of presents. Designed to calm the beast and stay off his wildly swinging radar path, it is a well-crafted package of offerings: increased purchases of US shale oil and natural gas and more purchases of American defense equipment as part of Japan's defense buildup plan.
While pointing to the record of Japanese investment in creating manufacturing jobs in the US, he is likely to avoid the touchy subject of the decision to block Nippon Steel's purchase of US Steel.
Ishiba has signaled that he does not anticipate smooth sailing in Washington. Responding to reporters on how he would deal with demands for even more defense spending, Ishiba said it was possible that 2% of GDP might not be enough, but“that is for Japan to decide, not the US.”
In a short speech to a global dialogue last week, organized by the Foreign Ministry think tank Japan Institute for International Affairs, Ishiba pledged to strengthen the US-Japan alliance. But he quickly added that he planned to“engage in candid discussion” in Washington, diplomatic code words for a less than warm gathering.
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