I exchanged some emails with Nikkei Asia‘s Ken Moriyasu about Kishida’s ambitions for a story previewing Kishida’s state visit to the US.
In stark contrast, Kishida has met Putin zero times since becoming prime minister in October 2021. In line with the West, he was quick to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, joining in sanctions against Russia and instantly burning any bridges with Moscow that Abe had built.
“In general, the fundamental principle that seems to guide Kishida’s foreign policy is that the rules-based international order is threatened in ways that it wasn’t when Abe was in power, which requires a different set of priorities,” said Tobias Harris, an analyst of Japanese politics and author of Abe’s biography, “The Iconoclast: Shinzo Abe and the New Japan.”
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But Harris, Abe’s biographer, said that by 2018 or 2019, even Abe’s ability to get Trump to listen was declining.
“Trump was starting to reach out to North Korea, and Abe was like, ‘Let’s meet, let’s have a call,’ to constantly remind Trump not to forget Japan. I don’t think Trump cared at all,” Harris told Nikkei. “The idea that you are going to be able to flatter your way through, I don’t think that’s going to work anymore.”
The article is available here.
Japan Foresight 