{"id":72582,"date":"2022-05-13T11:40:12","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T01:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=72582"},"modified":"2022-05-13T11:41:15","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T01:41:15","slug":"japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s reluctant realism on Taiwan"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

While the US\u2013Japan alliance, US military bases in Japan, and its geographical proximity to Taiwan make Japan an important country across the Taiwan Strait, it is yet to formulate any specific plans or legislation to guide its response to a potential crisis. If the United States were to request military assistance from Japan, Tokyo might be well in chaos.<\/p>\n

Several key factors have shaped Japan\u2019s policy on Taiwan over the past two decades. Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe sought to thaw Japan\u2019s frosty attitude to China during his first stint in the top job in 2006\u201307. Despite historically being tough on China, Abe avoided visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine and resumed the long-interrupted summit meetings between Japanese and Chinese leaders. According to former deputy chief cabinet secretary Hakubun Shimomura, easing Japan\u2013China tensions was part of Abe\u2019s strategy for the upper house election in 2007.<\/p>\n

Former Japanese ambassador to China Yuji Miyamoto revealed that before Abe was inaugurated as prime minister in September 2006, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was already considering improving relations with Beijing. According to Miyamoto, the Abe administration intentionally avoided diplomatic exchanges with Taiwan. Official visits from Taiwan were refused to avoid offending China. This approach mainly served Abe\u2019s domestic agenda and was not indicative of a new foreign-policy strategy or any concern about Japan\u2019s economic interest in China.<\/p>\n

Since 2017, the China\u2013US\u2013Japan\u00a0strategic triangle<\/a>\u00a0has largely constrained Japan\u2019s Taiwan diplomacy. The nature of the strategic triangle is that whenever the Japan\u2013US alliance is united by the shared goal of containing China, the relationship between Japan and Taiwan tends to be closer. But when the Japan\u2013US alliance is destabilised or if China and the US bypass Japan, Tokyo will get closer to Beijing in order to counteract US uncertainty.<\/p>\n

From 2017 to 2020, under former US president Donald Trump\u2019s \u2018America first\u2019 approach, the\u00a0Japan\u2013US alliance<\/a>\u00a0experienced a high level of uncertainty. In response, Abe resorted to a tactical hedging strategy of trying to get close to Beijing to achieve a balance between China and the US. With these strategic moves, in March 2019, Japan ultimately announced that its policy towards Taiwan would adhere to the agreements set out in the 1972 China\u2013Japan\u00a0joint declaration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the world was rattled by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the continuing intensification of competition between China and the US. These factors combined to create a more stable alliance between the US and Japan. This signified that Japan\u2019s Taiwan diplomacy would follow the US lead. In December 2021, Abe said that any Taiwan contingency would also be a \u2018Japan contingency<\/a>\u2019. By publicly commenting on the Taiwan issue, Abe hoped to pressure Japan\u2019s new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to reveal his administration\u2019s position on Taiwan, and to maintain the influence of his own faction over the Kishida administration.<\/p>\n

Against this domestic background and under pressure from the Biden administration, Japan\u2019s position on Taiwan at an international level is also shifting. In April last year, when Yoshihide Suga was prime minister, Japan and the US, for the first time in 52 years, formally discussed their concern about the security situation in the Taiwan Strait during the US\u2013Japan summit. Japan also stressed \u2018the vital importance of a stable security scenario across the Taiwan Strait\u2019 in its 2021\u00a0white paper<\/a>\u00a0on national defence.<\/p>\n

This sent a signal about Japan\u2019s\u00a0policy adjustment<\/a>\u00a0towards Taiwan. In the past 10 years, Japan has been cautious about the Taiwan issue, seldom challenging China\u2019s bottom line. It is puzzling to observe Tokyo\u2019s switch, particularly if one takes into account Suga\u2019s inexperience with foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Before the\u00a0Japan\u2013US summit<\/a>\u00a0in April 2021, the US sent Kurt Campbell, coordinator of Indo-Pacific affairs for the US National Security Council, to Tokyo to request Japan\u2019s support for efforts to contain China by passing a bill similar to the US\u2019s Taiwan Relations Act. Not wanting to upset China, Japan had difficulty meeting the request. To prevent Biden from making such requests during the summit, Japan chose to compromise and express its concern about the security situation across the Taiwan Strait in a joint statement. By doing so, Japan hoped to alleviate Washington\u2019s suspicion over its relatively close relationship with Beijing.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s Taiwan stance is closely tied to Japan\u2019s domestic politics, the US\u2013China\u2013Japan strategic triangle and alliance politics with the US. Importantly, Japan\u2019s policy adjustments do not necessarily indicate support for Taiwan\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n

As a key US ally in East Asia, Japan is debating the introduction of legislation to ready itself to deal with a contingency scenario in Taiwan. This seems to be more of a defensive response rather than a proactive military strategy. At the same time, Japan has repeatedly called for a \u2018peaceful resolution\u2019 of the Taiwan issue through dialogue, and is well positioned to achieve regional balance by handling China\u2013Japan relations within the framework of the US\u2013Japan alliance.<\/p>\n

China often views Japanese intervention in Taiwan affairs through the historical lens of Japan\u2019s colonial rule of the island from 1895 to 1945, casting distrust on Japan\u2019s attempt to balance Chinese interests in Taiwan. This highlights the need for China and Japan to find ways to effectively communicate with each other and avoid misinterpretations over Taiwan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the US\u2013Japan alliance, US military bases in Japan, and its geographical proximity to Taiwan make Japan an important country across the Taiwan Strait, it is yet to formulate any specific plans or legislation to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1555,"featured_media":72588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[285,135,392,2380],"class_list":["post-72582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-foreign-policy","tag-japan","tag-taiwan","tag-us-china-relations"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJapan\u2019s reluctant realism on Taiwan | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japan\u2019s reluctant realism on Taiwan | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While the US\u2013Japan alliance, US military bases in Japan, and its geographical proximity to Taiwan make Japan an important country across the Taiwan Strait, it is yet to formulate any specific plans or legislation to ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-13T01:40:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-13T01:41:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1229351026.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"697\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mong Cheung\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mong Cheung\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1229351026.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1229351026.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":697,\"caption\":\"This photo taken on October 20, 2020 shows an aerial view of anti-landing spikes and retired tanks placed along the coast of Taiwan's Kinmen islands, which lie just 3.2 kms (two miles) from the mainland China coast (in background) in the Taiwan Strait. - The tank traps on the beaches of Kinmen Island are a stark reminder that Taiwan lives under the constant threat of a Chinese invasion -- and fears of a conflict breaking out are now at their highest in decades. (Photo by Sam Yeh \/ AFP) \/ TO GO WITH Taiwan-China-US-politics-military-Kinmen,FOCUS by Amber WANG and Jerome TAYLOR (Photo by SAM YEH\/AFP via Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/\",\"name\":\"Japan\u2019s reluctant realism on Taiwan | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-13T01:40:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-13T01:41:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/8d9ca59cb43ab94b0d2e36130fccac74\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Japan\u2019s reluctant realism on Taiwan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/8d9ca59cb43ab94b0d2e36130fccac74\",\"name\":\"Mong Cheung\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f367ce829b2bd4dc55fab468a023360e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f367ce829b2bd4dc55fab468a023360e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mong Cheung\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/mong-cheung\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japan\u2019s reluctant realism on Taiwan | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Japan\u2019s reluctant realism on Taiwan | The Strategist","og_description":"While the US\u2013Japan alliance, US military bases in Japan, and its geographical proximity to Taiwan make Japan an important country across the Taiwan Strait, it is yet to formulate any specific plans or legislation to ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2022-05-13T01:40:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-13T01:41:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":697,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1229351026.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mong Cheung","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mong Cheung","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1229351026.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1229351026.jpg","width":1024,"height":697,"caption":"This photo taken on October 20, 2020 shows an aerial view of anti-landing spikes and retired tanks placed along the coast of Taiwan's Kinmen islands, which lie just 3.2 kms (two miles) from the mainland China coast (in background) in the Taiwan Strait. - The tank traps on the beaches of Kinmen Island are a stark reminder that Taiwan lives under the constant threat of a Chinese invasion -- and fears of a conflict breaking out are now at their highest in decades. (Photo by Sam Yeh \/ AFP) \/ TO GO WITH Taiwan-China-US-politics-military-Kinmen,FOCUS by Amber WANG and Jerome TAYLOR (Photo by SAM YEH\/AFP via Getty Images)"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/","name":"Japan\u2019s reluctant realism on Taiwan | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2022-05-13T01:40:12+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-13T01:41:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/8d9ca59cb43ab94b0d2e36130fccac74"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-reluctant-realism-on-taiwan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Japan\u2019s reluctant realism on Taiwan"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/8d9ca59cb43ab94b0d2e36130fccac74","name":"Mong Cheung","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f367ce829b2bd4dc55fab468a023360e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f367ce829b2bd4dc55fab468a023360e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mong Cheung"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/mong-cheung\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1555"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72582"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72589,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72582\/revisions\/72589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}