Wednesday August 21, 2019 15ASIANREVIEW
Is the sun setting on the US-Japan alliance?
US trying to bully China and other countries with its hegemonic moves
By Chen Yang
T
he US plans to send Vice
President Mike Pence
to Japan in October
to attend the coronation of
Japanese Emperor Naruhito,
according to media reports.
Pence is likely to meet Japa-
nese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe during the tour to reaffirm
the US-Japan alliance.
US President Donald
Trump administration’s high-
ranking officials frequently
reaffirming the importance of
the alliance shows that rela-
tions between Washington and
Tokyo are floundering.
In 1951, representatives
from the two governments
signed the Treaty of Mutual
Cooperation and Security Be-
tween the United States and
Japan in San Francisco, giving
birth to their alliance.
Japan and the US were
enemies during the WWII.
Neither of them thought they
could become allies later. Even
more unexpectedly, their al-
liance lasts until today. Since
the formation of their alli-
ance more than six decades
ago, there have been constant
disputes within the relation-
ship, including a trade war and
the issue of US military bases
in Japan. However, the alliance
has not suffered much, and the
risks have been controllable.
Meanwhile, the significance
of their alliance has increased.
After the WWII, the purpose of
their relationship was to con-
tain the Soviet Union. After the
Soviet Union disintegrated in
1991, Japan and the US drifted
apart for a brief period, but
their ties were strengthened
soon afterward.
In the two decades after the
Cold War, the US-Japan alli-
ance experienced three signifi-
cant adjustments. It went from
a defense-oriented relation-
ship to one that deals with the
situation in areas surrounding
Japan, then shifted focus to
supposedly maintaining global
peace and security.
Japan’s status has risen
within the alliance, and the
mutual trust between the two
has also deepened. Under such
circumstances, the Abe admin-
istration has been proactively
implementing the US-initiated
rebalance to Asia-Pacific strat-
egy and Indo-Pacific Strategy.
As the US strength is believed
to be declining, it is anticipated
that Japan’s status in the alli-
ance will continue to rise. But
Japan and US relations span
an unequal friendship.
Since Trump took office in
2017, a series of US moves and
diplomatic policies have hurt
US-Japan ties.
The Trump administration
has withdrawn from a number
of international organizations.
This has made Japan feel that
the US is no longer reliable.
After Trump was sworn in,
he pulled the country out of
the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Later, the US withdrew from
the 2015 Paris Agreement,
UNESCO, the UN Human
Rights Council, Iran nuclear
deal, the Universal Postal
Union, and the Intermediate-
Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Such behavior reflects the
“America First” policy and
damages trust among its allies,
especially Japan.
According to a joint survey
by the Yomiuri Shimbun and
the US survey firm Gallup,
which was released on
December 2018, 30 per-
cent of Japanese respon-
dents said they trusted
the US, the lowest figure
since 2000. Meanwhile,39 percent of Japanese respon-
dents said Japan-US relations
were “good” or “very good,”
a 17 percent decrease from- Japanese mistrust for
the US is rising, and doubts
have emerged over the US role
within the alliance – if Japan
suffers a military attack, would
the Trump administration,
which has been promoting
“America First,” step up and
offer help?
On the other hand, Trump’s
statements on the Japan-US
trade deficit and their security
treaty have caused concerns
within Japan over whether
their alliance can remain
stable. During Trump’s
presidential campaign,
he repeatedly expressed
discontent with the
trade deficit.
Washington
will likely pile
more pressure on
Tokyo during trade
talks. Trump has
directly asked Abe
to buy farm prod-
ucts worth a “huge
amount,” Kyodo news
agency reported on
August 13.
To deal with the
trade deficit, the
Abe adminis-
tration has already purchased
significant numbers of US-
made jet fighters and weapons.
Now, the US is forcing Japan to
purchase its agriculture prod-
ucts, which shows that the US
is bullying its Asian ally. Mean-
while, it was recently reported
that Trump is considering
scrapping the security treaty
with Japan because he feels it
is unfair to the US. Although
the US government denied the
news, the reports have cast a
shadow on the alliance.
The US-Japan alliance is no
longer as solid as what others
have imagined. Although the
two will not break up in the
near future, whether
they can do away
with wobbly ties
will influence
the development
of their alliance.
Japan and the
US may again
drift apart just as
they did after the
Cold War. Thistime, the estrangement won’t
come about because the two
lack a common enemy, but
because the US has partici-
pated less in global affairs and
its moves have hurt interna-
tional order. That being said,
the US-Japan alliance lacks
significance to exist.
The visit by Pence and other
high-ranking US officials may
help pacify Japan, but that’s it.
Consolidating the Japan-US
alliance will take time and
efforts.The author is an editor at the
Global Times and a Japan
watcher. opinion@globaltimes.
com.cnPakistani analysts said Sunday that the
US tries to cower other countries into
submission by bullying China with he-
gemonic tactics including more tariffs.
“By bullying China, the US has also
been showing hegemonic threats to oth-
er countries, giving a hidden message
that if anyone does not follow its policy
it would be dealt with like China,” said
Saeed Chaudhry, director of the Islam-
abad Council for International Affairs.
The US has adopted the wrong path
by obtaining financial advantages with
such tricks as ramping up political pres-
sure and sacrificing the rights of devel-
oping countries, said Chaudhry in an
interview with Xinhua on Sunday.
Chaudhry said that the US has been
experiencing a tough economy at home
and a shrinking slice of the global mar-
ket, which frustrated US President
Donald Trump, who therefore provoked
trade frictions with China.
The Trump administration has no
solution for his country’s financial prob-
lems or other countries’ issues.
Instead of seeking cooperation, the
Trump administration has launched a
series of bizarre and weak tactics against
others, producing collateral damage for
US interests at home and abroad, he
said.
Reports have shown that the US tar-
iffs on imports have increased the costs
of doing business in the US, including
higher prices and lower profits for the
manufacturing and services industries.
The US tactics of blackmailing China
by using sabotage and politically mo-
tivated actions, however, have almost
failed thanks to the sustainability of the
Chinese economy, said John Ashbourne,a senior analyst at the London-based
consultancy Capital Economics.
“China is a big country with a huge
economy, but it has never shown any
sign of hegemonic approach or bul-
lied other countries for its own gains,”
Ashbourne said, adding that the two
sides need to resolve the trade disputes
through negotiations.
Mohammad Jamil, a senior colum-
nist from Pakistan’s eastern city Lahore,
told Xinhua that on the sidelines of the
G20 summit in Japan in June, Trump
promised not to impose additional tar-
iffs, and to restart economic and trade
consultations with China, creating hope
that the world economy would regain
stability. Unfortunately, he went back on
his words.
Trump’s walking back repeatedly on
his commitments and wielding the tariffstick on imports from China in Septem-
ber have made the US and world econo-
my more volatile, said Jamil.
Chaudhry stressed that the world
needs to understand that by resisting
the unilateral practices, China is actually
making efforts to defend the develop-
ment rights of all countries amid global-
ization, and serve as a facilitator of the
developing economies.
He urged Washington to shun self-
ishness and join global economic and
development activities based on fairness
so as to avoid another global crisis.The article is from the Xinhua News Agency.
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[email protected]Illustration: Liu Rui/GT