COURTING TRUMP
Takaichi is maneuvering for a crucial summit next month with US President Donald Trump, who will visit Beijing in April.
The US president endorsed Takaichi ahead of the Japanese election, and hours before Takaichi’s reappointment as prime minister, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced Japan will provide capital for three projects under a US$550 billion investment package that Japan pledged in October.
Japan is committed to the US$36 billion first batch of projects – a natural gas plant in Ohio, a US Gulf Coast crude oil export facility and a synthetic diamond manufacturing site.
Japan is also under pressure to increase annual defence spending.
”Japan will keep spending more and more for the US … The question is whether the public wants her to speak out against Trump or be obedient to ensure Japanese security,” said Masato Kamikubo, a Ritsumeikan University professor of policy science.
“For China, it’s simple. Japanese people want her to be tough.”
A HAWK ON CHINA
Takaichi in November suggested possible Japanese action if China makes a military move against Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own. That has led to Beijing’s diplomatic and economic reprisals.
Many Japanese, frustrated by China’s growing assertiveness, welcomed her comments on Taiwan.
Emboldened by the big election win, Takaichi could take a more hawkish stance with China, experts say.
Takaichi, soon after the election, said she is working to gain support for a visit to Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine.
Visits to the shrine are seen by Japan’s neighbours as evidence of a lack of remorse for Japan’s wartime past.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/sanae-takaichi-reappointed-japanese-pm-election-win-5938186
