Fumio Kishida walks ‘fine line’ as Japan incurs China’s wrath over Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan trip

Name: Mainland China launches largest military drill in the Taiwan Strait after Pelosi’s visit
Uploaded: 2022-08-05T07:30:13.000Z
Duration: 2 min 46 s
Description: Mainland China launches largest military drill in the Taiwan Strait after Pelosi’s visit

Days after Beijing axed a meeting with a Japanese official, Tokyo reiterated its commitment to a ‘free and open’ Indo-Pacific and stability in the Taiwan Strait

While Kishida could have opted for a more dovish position, Japan had no choice but to express displeasure when Chinese missiles fell inside its EEZ, one analyst notes

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Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Tokyo. Photo: Kyodo

Julian Ryall

Published: 3:30pm, 5 Aug 2022Updated: 3:47pm, 5 Aug 2022

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday reiterated their commitment to a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region and stability in the Taiwan Strait, although analysts point out that Pelosi’s trip, at least in the short term, has had the opposite impact.

Since she visited Taiwan, Beijing has been carrying out large-scale military exercises near the self-ruled island, while a US aircraft carrier and its support fleet are operating in the Philippine Sea and Tokyo is monitoring events closely after five Chinese missiles splashed down inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Yet as the US congresswoman’s East Asia tour winds down, it is apparent that Japan has been by far the firmest advocate of Washington’s position on Taipei, and the most willing to criticise Beijing for what Tokyo increasingly sees as the economic and military bullying of the island.

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Mainland China launches largest military drill in the Taiwan Strait after Pelosi’s visit

Editorials in South Korean media on Friday, for example, were broadly critical of President Yoon Suk-yeol opting not to meet Pelosi, with his office variously stating that he was too busy and taking a holiday.

Yoon and Pelosi spoke by phone while she was in Seoul, but the JoongAng Daily said this was not an adequate diplomatic welcome for a representative of the South’s most important security partner.

Kishida, however, rolled out the red carpet after Pelosi arrived at the US military’s Yokota air base in western Tokyo late on Thursday.

As well as meeting the prime minister, Pelosi has held talks with Hiroyuki Hosoda, the speaker of Japan’s House of Representatives, and attended a plenary meeting of the lower chamber of the Diet, during which Hosoda read a statement of condolence for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead last month.