Message for China as Japan’s new prime minister Fumio Kishida gets Biden’s pledge of US support in East China Sea

Name: Who is Japan’s next Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida?
Uploaded: 2021-10-05T09:46:11.000Z
Duration: 4 min 30 s
Description: Who is Japan’s next Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida?

On first full day in job, Fumio Kishida gets a commitment from President Joe Biden that the US will help Tokyo defend disputed territories like the Diaoyu or Senkaku islands

Kishida’s hawkish stance on China includes questioning its suitability to join the CPTPP and creating a new ministerial post for economic security in what some perceive to be a ‘slap in the face’ for Beijing

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Fumio Kishida is applauded after being elected as Japan’s new prime minister at the parliament's lower house in Tokyo. Photo: AP

Julian Ryall

Published: 5:46pm, 5 Oct 2021Updated: 8:53pm, 7 Oct 2021

New Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wasted no time in indicating his position on key security issues on his first full day in the job, speaking with President Joe Biden on Tuesday morning and obtaining the US leader’s commitment to step in if Japan needs to defend disputed islands in the East China Sea.

The message came after Kishida used his first press conference as prime minister on Monday to express scepticism about China’s ability to meet the free-trade requirements to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and accuse Beijing of using force to alter the security status quo in the Asia-Pacific region.

Kishida also detailed his administration’s principles, which included protecting the values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, strengthening the defence of Japan’s territory, and tackling global issues such as climate change.

While the prime minister did not mention another country by name, his words were widely interpreted as holding a message for China.

Those interpretations were given weight by Kishida’s appointment of Takayuki Kobayashi to the newly created post of minister of economic security, tasked with preventing industrial espionage, solving supply chain problems that might hobble domestic industry and protecting the leads that Japanese companies have developed in hi-tech sectors. Once again, in each of those areas China is widely seen as among Japan’s biggest concerns.

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Who is Japan’s next Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida?

‘Slap in the face’

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