Skepticism from Down Under

In the quasi-containment policy against China, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sees Australia as a cornerstone to restrict Chinese promotion toward Pacific Ocean. Simply because the land down under is geographically located in Southern periphery of the containment posture, he realizes the significance of the nation to be included in his side. That is why he approaches Australia as a close friend with shared values. As a result, he ignores the fact that Australia is looking closely at both Japan and China.

Australia was a country Abe chose for one of the first foreign countries to visit after reinterpretation of the Constitution to exercise collective self-defense in early July. He made a speech in the Parliament House in Canberra for the first time as Japanese Prime Minister. We want to make Japan a country that will work to build an international order that upholds the rule of law. Our desire is to make Japan a country that is all the more willing to contribute to peace in the region and beyond. It is for this reason that Japan has raised the banner of ‘Proactive Contribution to Peace,’” told Abe. It was unclear whether the Australians might have found a sense of expansionism in his words.

Responses to his speech were not only enthusiastic applauses as conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott sent. While Abe praised bilateral effort to establish a cooperative framework in the region, or Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, by Prime Ministers Masayoshi Ohira and Malcolm Fraser, Fraser deliberately criticized Abe just the day after he made the speech.

Fraser said that Abe was “the second head of government who’s made a speech that should only have been made from his own soil.” “The first was President Obama,” he elaborated, “when he made a speech that should only have been made form American soil.” In his current book titled “Dangerous Allies,” he warns the Australians about disadvantage of alliance with the United States and its satellites including Japan. His criticism is based on a notion that Asia-Pacific nations need to offer China space for their activities in the region.

This clearly showed negative aspect of Japan to seek closer ties with U.S. The closer Japan approaches to U.S., the more countries take distance from Japan in the world where skepticism on U.S. hegemony is spreading. For Australia, China is the biggest partner both for its exports and imports. The best scenario for the Australians is all parties are peacefully achieving prosperity. They have no reason to contain China. Unfortunately, the head of Japan cannot, or will not, understand that truth.