By Lyu Chao

Since taking office as Japan's Prime Minister in October last year, Sanae Takaichi has visited 11 countries, mainly the US and Japan's so-called "like-minded countries" in Europe and the Asia-Pacific. In terms of both content and objectives, nearly all of Takaichi's diplomatic engagements during her first 10 months in office have been calibrated with China in mind. In other words, an underlying thread runs through Takaichi's diplomacy: piecing together a network of allies and partners while stoking confrontation with China.

Since taking office, Takaichi has made repeated gaffes in both bilateral and multilateral diplomatic settings. In Washington, her excessive enthusiasm drew criticism as "sycophantic diplomacy"; in New Delhi, her claim that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called her his "beautiful younger sister" turned out to be a falsehood; and at the G7 summit, her "chair-spinning" episode left her looking awkward... Japanese public opinion has been highly critical almost every time Takaichi travels abroad, with voices repeatedly saying that she is "embarrassing Japan".

Although her frequent diplomatic gaffes have exposed her lack of diplomatic experience, Takaichi has continued to make every effort to exploit these "opportunities" to lend support to a series of right-wing political agendas she is determined to push forward—particularly to find excuses and external backing for Japan to break through the constraints of the Pacifist Constitution domestically and shake off the constraints of the postwar order internationally. To achieve these goals, Takaichi and her cabinet have once again resorted to the tactics of hyping the so-called "China threat" and stoking confrontation with China.

Under Japan's longstanding postwar strategic logic for its foreign relations, the alliance with the US has long been regarded as the cornerstone of Japan's diplomatic and security policy. In recent years, however, a growing consensus among US allies and partners holds that "Washington is becoming increasingly unreliable." As a result, the "cornerstone" of the Japan-US alliance has become increasingly shaky, while the Japanese right wing's calculations of relying on the US to contain China and taking the opportunity to pursue "remilitarization" have become increasingly untenable. Since taking office, Takaichi has therefore sought, on the one hand, to keep Washington on board and have it maintain strategic efforts to contain and pressure China, so that Japan can "benefit from the situation." On the other hand, she has actively stepped up diplomatic and military coordination with so-called "like-minded countries" beyond the US, clearly using "confronting China" as a lever, including by frequently invoking a so-called new iteration of the so-called "Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP)" vision.

Even as Japan's domestic economic growth remains sluggish and geopolitical conflicts around the world have sharply increased fiscal, financial, and other pressures on Japan, Sanae Takaichi and her government have remained fixated on confronting China. As with other moves, such as providing military equipment to countries in the region under the banner of Official Security Assistance (OSA), the Japanese government has consistently sought to stoke and provoke bloc confrontation, attempting to draw other countries into building a network to contain and pressure China.

However, the Japanese government's maneuvers have failed to escape the scrutiny of even its domestic media, let alone deceived Asian countries that remain vigilant against Japan's "remilitarization" and the revival of militarism, or people of conscience around the world who uphold justice. While the Takaichi government pays lip service to "freedom and openness," it is in fact bent on confrontation. Such a concept, which does not live up to its name, runs counter to the shared aspirations of regional countries for peace, development, and cooperation. In the face of the Japanese right wing's "small moves" to sow division and stoke confrontation, regional countries and the international community must remain clear-eyed and resolutely condemn and counter such moves.

(The author is Director of the Institute of American and East Asian Studies at Liaoning University)

Editor's Note: Originally published on huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.