Japanese Politicians Sound Off on Suga-Biden Summit

Japanese Politicians Sound Off on Suga-Biden Summit

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Suga Biden Summit
Image: Courtesy Kyodo News
From strengthening the military to continuing the Olympics, there was plenty wrong about the visit.

On April 16th, Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide met with US President Joe Biden at a summit in Washington, DC. Though they had virtual meetings in the past at a “G7 meeting and a quad leader summit,” this was their first face-to-face meeting, making Suga the first international visitor during Biden’s presidency.

During their summit, the two heads of state discussed matters such as “the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”, as well as cooperating on issues such as “North Korea, and the East and South China Seas”.

However, the most notable topic during their summit was, of course, the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games. Despite all painstaking and heavily disputed odds, the games are still set to begin in late July. Suga explicitly stated his intention to hold the event as intended as a “symbol of global unity.” When asked to elaborate on this statement during the joint press conference at the White House, Suga (through an interpreter, said the following):

Japan will continue careful and full preparation in order to realize the Tokyo games this summer, in order to ensure equitable access to vaccines for COVID-19.  We also affirmed that Japan and the U.S. will continue our cooperation.

-Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide, “Remarks by President Biden and Prime Minister Suga of Japan at Press Conference“, April 16, 2021, Briefing Room “The White House”

He expressed similar intentions to Vice President Kamala Harris (no relation to your author) as well. In the same vein as Biden, Harris gave her support. These discussions were heavily aligned with the hopes of Olympics officials, who wanted the United States to send a “positive message” about the event in order to boost morale within the Japanese public.

Yet, back in Japan, members of opposition parties were not pleased with this summit. Edano Yukio, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party or CDP, questioned why Suga would visit the US in “the midst of a (coronavirus) resurgence.” He then went on to say that Suga had failed to properly contain the pandemic within Japan.

On the other hand, the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) critiqued Suga-Biden’s commitment to “strengthening their bilateral alliance” against China. It should be noted that this pledge included naming Taiwan directly as its own nation separate from the People’s Republic of China. Shii Kazuo of the JCP noted that this could draw an angered response from the Chinese government:

China’s hegemonism in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, as well as its human rights violations in Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, must be severely criticized. However, what is most important is to specifically point to China’s claims and activities that violate international law and to calmly demand that China comply with international law….

What is even more significant is that the Japan-U.S. Joint Leader’s Statement places China’s response to these issues in the context of “strengthening the U.S.-Japan Alliance.” Strengthening the military response without criticism based on international law will only lead to a dangerous vicious cycle of increasing military tensions.

-Shii Kazuo, leader of Japan Communist Party, translated statement via Japan Press

Most people would agree that the intentions behind the Suga-Biden summit are ambitious. After a checkered Trump-Abe relationship, it seems that the two nations are returning to political stability. However, with the questionable theatrics of Suga’s visit and the insultingly slow vaccine rollout, one can only wonder if the actions of both nations will match their joint ambitions.

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Thalia Harris

Thalia-Marie Harris is a North Jersey/New York native, currently residing in Tokyo, where she works as an ESL teacher and freelance writer. Her previous pieces have appeared in Metropolis Tokyo and pacificREVIEW.

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