Friction between the U.S. and China means Washington will need Japan more than before, regardless of who wins the U.S. presidential election, according to a foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
¡°U.S. relations with Japan and East Asian policies are likely to become relatively more important¡± as China becomes more powerful, former diplomat Kunihiko Miyake said in an interview Thursday, while the U.S. election result remained unclear. Friction between China and the U.S. won¡¯t dissipate under a new president, because both Democrats and Republicans are in agreement that China is the main strategic rival for the U.S., Miyake added.
Suga must tread a fine line with Japan¡¯s only formal security ally, the U.S., and its biggest trade partner, China. Democrat Joe Biden, a past proponent of engagement with Beijing, has adopted a more critical tone during the campaign and pledged to enlist allies to a coordinated effort to check China¡¯s rise. Republican Donald Trump has been more assertive with China than any U.S. president in decades, slapping tariffs on goods and moving to restrict its access to key technologies.
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