The Joe Biden Presidency: Japan in Focus

Dwaipayan Sinha
Jadavpur University

On 16th April 2021, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga met the United States President Joe Biden and discussed various international issues.  This was the first in-person meeting of Joe Biden after he assumed the post of the President and follows the virtual summit of the four members of the Quad which was held in March 2021. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin had visited Tokyo in March, thereby laying the foundations for the Suga-Biden meeting. The major themes of discussion were the Coronavirus pandemic, climate change, trade, and the Tokyo Olympics. Geopolitical issues like North Korea, Xinjiang, and Taiwan were also talked about. Biden and Suga reiterated the need for a free and open Indo-Pacific and agreed to cooperate with Australia, India, and the ASEAN nations to reach the objective. In a joint press conference with Suga, Biden pledged to defend and advance the two nations’ shared values, including human rights and rule of law. By hosting Suga in Washington, Biden seems to send a message that Japan will be a key partner of the United States to achieve its foreign policy goals in Asia. Washington has made it clear that it views the growing Chinese influence over the globe as one of the key challenges facing Biden. As such, containing China has become an issue of paramount importance for Biden.

Japan has been a longstanding US ally since it was defeated in the Second World War. Shinzo Abe, former Japanese Prime Minister, was the first advocate of the alliance of four countries- India, Japan, Australia, and the United States – to counter the growing might of China in the Indo-Pacific in 2007. However, his attempts at bonhomie with former US President Trump did not yield the desired results. Abe had attempted to cultivate the goodwill of Trump even going to the extent of nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize, as demanded by Trump. That did not prove to be enough as Trump slapped 25 % steel tariffs on Japan and left the Trans-Pacific Partnership, ignoring Abe’s request. Trump’s demand that Japan should pay 8 billion dollars annually to host the US troops stationed in Japan was a souring point in the US-Japan relationship. Biden, on the other hand, has realized the importance of Japan in its strategic calculations. Biden’s team consists of various experts on the Indo-Pacific region and in particular, Japan. It shows that the Biden administration has realized the threat posed by China to its hegemonic position in the world and is now focusing on East Asian security.

US-Japan Relationship and China

Biden and Suga made it clear that they will work together to counter challenges posed by China and North Korea in their joint address. The leaders highlighted the issues faced by democratic countries by authoritarian China in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. They opposed Chinese attempts to unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea and advocated for a free and open South China Sea, governed by international laws. The US and Japan share many common grievances concerning China. The way Beijing has been abusing the Uighur Muslim community in the far-western region of China has drawn severe criticism from the allies. Various international organizations have called the “re-education” centers in Xinjiang internment camps for quelling dissent. Several western countries like the USA, Canada, and the UK have imposed coordinated sanctions on China after horrific stories from the re-education camps came out in the public domain. The US, Canada, and the Netherlands have termed the treatment of Uighurs by the Chinese authorities as ‘genocide’. The Biden administration decided to place an import ban on all cotton and tomato products from the region. Japan earlier trod a careful line as it expressed concerns on the Uighur issue but did not join in with the Western sanctions.  The leaders also underscored “the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan region”. The last time the US and Japan did so was in 1969 when Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato and then US President Richard Nixon emphasized the need to maintain peace and security in the “Taiwan area”. Japan had later normalized ties with China in 1972.

China has consistently claimed sovereignty over the self-ruled island of Taiwan and has even threatened to take the island by force, if necessary. Both Japan and United States see Taiwan as a friendly buffer in the Asia-Pacific region against Chinese naval expansion. Japan, which has a 70-year-old treaty with the US that commits them to act against common enemies, has offered to provide logistical support in the case the United States gets involved in a conflict with China in this region. Taiwanese leaders have welcomed the statements made by Biden and Suga.

Japan, which shares deep economic and commercial ties with China, has been wary of antagonizing the Chinese dragon in the past. However, that seems to be changing now since Suga has been openly critical of China, something Japanese leaders have not historically wanted to do.

Before the meet, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had cautioned his Japanese counterpart not to get involved in the “so-called confrontation” between the US and China.  China did not take the criticism by the two leaders well and “deplored and rejected” the criticism.  It accused the US and Japan of ganging up to form exclusive cliques and encouraging anti-China blocs.

China’s growing technological might is another concern for Japan and the US. The global supply of components for the latest fifth generation (5G) mobile telecommunication networks has been effectively cornered by China. Chinese giant technology companies like Huawei and ZTE are involved in the production of cutting-edge equipment. The Chinese companies have managed to successfully undercut various international competitors, such as Finland’s Nokia, on price. They have promised high-speed broadband access to the most marginalized societies of the world. This led to the United States branding Huawei as a national security threat and placing it on the Department of Commerce’s so-called entity list. Japan took a leading role in this technology battle and banned Chinese companies from participating in the development of its 5G networks. It has emerged as a leading force to challenge China’s digital hegemony. Japan has grown to become a major player in its efforts to diversify supply chains. It has attempted to reduce the overdependence on China for resources and supplies for the development of technology. Biden and Suga have looked into ways of utilizing their combined technological prowess to curtail China’s growing influence worldwide. Japan and the US have also set up a working group that is entrusted with planning and developing strategies to solve the global shortage of computer chips. These chips are used in the automotive sector, which is vital for both economies.

Other Areas of Cooperation

The two countries promised to strengthen their trade relations in the future and announced an investment of 4.5 billion dollars in the next gen 6G race with Chinese technology firms. Japan and United States have decided to join their Quad partners and work on a COVID vaccine initiative to counter China’s vaccine diplomacy.  India will manufacture the Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine while Japan, Australia, and United States will fund the initiative. The allies plan to undercut China’s political and economic clout in Southeast Asia by providing one billion vaccines to the various Southeast Asian countries.

Japan has set a zero-emissions target for 2050 and is investing heavily in green energy to meet the target. However, the Japanese leadership has been criticized for not moving fast enough to reduce carbon emissions by 2030. The Japanese government continues to fund the development of coal-fired power plants overseas. The issue of climate change is dear to Biden and Washington. It has been pressing Tokyo to take a stand alongside the United States to push the major economies in taking new greenhouse gas emission pledges. Suga and Biden agreed to unite and tackle issues like climate change and green energy together.

Suga has been expressing his desire to host the Olympic Games in July 2021 as a symbol of global unity. While many have questioned the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games’ holding amid a pandemic, President Biden has reportedly expressed his support for this initiative. Tokyo has reportedly spent roughly twenty-five billion dollars on the event and would not like the preparations to waste.

Both Biden and Suga realize the importance of multilateral forums to counter China. Thus, they are seeking to make alliances with like-minded partners who are also threatened by the meteoric rise of China. Biden aspires to get South Korea involved in its Asia-Pacific vision but is wary of the various historical issues- like Second World War era forced labor and sexual slavery claims- between South Korea and Japan. The cooperation between Tokyo and Seoul is necessary to reign in Washington’s other big adversary in Asia, North Korea.