Was China the focus of Japan PM Kishida’s whirlwind G7 ‘summit diplomacy’ tour?

Name: UK and Japan sign major defence deal allowing easier troop deployments and joint exercises
Uploaded: 2023-01-13T00:00:23.000Z
Duration: 1 min 52 s
Description: UK and Japan sign major defence deal allowing easier troop deployments and joint exercises

Fumio Kishida used his week-long tour of France, Italy, Britain, Canada and the US to shore up support and seek security assurances as tensions rise

Analysts say the ‘emerging possibility’ of a Taiwan invasion focused minds as Tokyo balances military deterrence of China with economic engagement

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida waves as he boards a plane bound for Britain after concluding the second leg of his G7 tour in Italy. Photo: Kyodo

Maria Siow

Published: 8:00am, 13 Jan 2023

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida embarked on a whistle-stop tour of fellow G7 member states this week, seeking closer defence ties and assurances from Western partners against a backdrop of rising geopolitical risk and growing threats to the rules-based international order.

Russia’s almost year-old invasion of Ukraine and the “emerging possibility” of mainland China invading Taiwan would have been front of mind during his week-long “summit diplomacy” tour, analysts said, as Kishida laid the groundwork for Japan hosting the next meeting of the Group of 7 wealthy club of nations in May.

In France on Monday President Emmanuel Macron said “Japan can count on our unfailing support” against North Korea, in particular, while also vowing to continue “joint actions in the Indo-Pacific”.

Italy and Japan on Tuesday agreed to form a “strategic partnership” and for their foreign and defence ministers to begin holding joint “two-plus-two” security talks like the ones Tokyo already has with the US, India and Australia.

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UK and Japan sign major defence deal allowing easier troop deployments and joint exercises

In Britain on Wednesday, Kishida signed a defence agreement allowing the two countries to deploy forces on each other’s soil – similar to the one Japan and Australia signed in January – followed by a visit to Ottawa on Thursday where he was set to meet Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau.