More ‘insensitive’ rhetoric against Japan likely, experts say, as US election campaign heats up

Senator Lindsey Graham ‘should have thought twice’ before his comments justifying the 1945 atomic bomb attacks on Japan, analysts note

Timing of Graham’s comments is ‘unfortunate’, coming soon after Biden called Japan a ‘xenophobic’ country for not having large-scale immigration, they add

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Senator Lindsey Graham speaks during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defence on Capitol Hill on May 8. Photo: AP

Published: 11:00am, 15 May 2024

Japan has protested after a senior US politician justified the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, although observers say the comments by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham are part of an increasingly politically charged debate in the run-up to the November presidential election.

They expressed concern, however, that more “insensitive and unnecessary” comments critical of one of Washington’s closest allies may be forthcoming in the coming months as the campaign becomes more heated.

“Graham’s comments were very unfortunate and unnecessary,” said Yoichi Shimada, a professor of international relations at Fukui Prefectural University.

“Graham is very close to [former president Donald] Trump, is a known conservative and is influential in the party, so this is even more unfortunate,” he told This Week in Asia. “He should have thought twice before saying anything.”

Smoke rises from an explosion in northern Gaza, near the Israel-Gaza border, on Wednesday. Senator Lindsey Graham has urged the US to give Israel what it needs to fight the war. Photo: Reuters

The Japanese government had “reacted quite calmly” to the comments, he said, adding, “But I hope that the Japanese embassy in Washington has reached out and warned him. US politicians need to be more careful because this is the sort of thing that can cause ill feeling at a time when we need to be reinforcing the alliance.