Japan pledged to pursue strategic and mutually beneficial relations with China in its annual foreign policy report released Tuesday, even as the two countries remain at odds over various issues, while recognizing the importance of dialogue.
The 2024 Diplomatic Bluebook said Japan will promote a “mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests” with China, using the wording last seen in the 2019 report, although the neighboring country poses “an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to build the strategic and mutually beneficial relations at their meeting in San Francisco in November last year.
Tensions remain between the two Asian powers over matters such as the Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean since last August.
Rivalry between Japan’s close ally the United States and China has also intensified over the Chinese military’s provocative activities near Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing sees as a breakaway province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.
The report also mentioned “serious concerns” over China’s “attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo” and “a series of dangerous acts” in the South China Sea as well as the importance of accelerating trilateral collaboration among Japan, the United States and the Philippines to deal with them.
As for South Korea, the bluebook described it as an “important neighboring country” that Japan should cooperate with “as a partner to address various issues of the international community.”
“Given the grave security environment in the Indo-Pacific region, Japan and South Korea’s close cooperation is needed now more than ever,” it said.
Tokyo last called Seoul a partner in the 2010 version, a Foreign Ministry official told reporters, reflecting a significant improvement in bilateral ties since South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol took office in 2022.
The two Asian countries have also been strengthening three-way security cooperation with the United States in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile programs, which the policy paper said pose “serious and imminent threats” to Japan’s security.
Meanwhile, the document said Tokyo “cannot afford to waste” any time to solve the long-standing problem of Pyongyang’s past abductions of Japanese nationals as the victims’ families continue to age, mentioning Kishida’s aim to realize an early summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
On Russia, the report underscored wariness about its move to boost relations with not only China but North Korea, particular concerning North Korean weapons transfers that could worsen the situation in Ukraine as it resists Russian invasion.
To enhance deterrence, it is essential to collaborate with like-minded nations and construct “multilayered networks” that center around the Japan-U.S. alliance, such as those involving Australia, India and NATO members, it added.
BY: KYODO
