politics

Doubts grow over Abe's foreign policy skills ahead of election

23 Comments
By Noriyuki Suzuki

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No concessions from the Russians this weekend nor any positive results from Iran on his visit there, an attack on a Japanese owned vessel was the result from that! The captive Japanese have still not been accounted for fully.

North Korea is just up the road but Abe can’t make a visit yet harps on about the issue?

Abe just doesn’t get results!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

No concessions from the Russians this weekend nor any positive results from Iran on his visit there, an attack on a Japanese owned vessel was the result from that! 

Nobody has gotten the islands from the Russians for 70 years. It's ridiculous to expect it on demand just because of a G20 summit. And so far as the attack on a Japanese vessel.... I would put my money on it being a CIA, Israel or Saudi Arabian action more than Iran. It just makes no sense for Iran, and the US routinely conducts these sorts of false flag attacks. I doubt Trump even knew about it.

Abe and his cronies are a bunch of criminals holding Japan back, but I think he has done as well as can be expected on the foreign front, considering the sometimes unrealistic expectations some Japanese have.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

The opinion of the media is not absolutely correct. Prime Minister Abe has finally begun to move. And instructed the relevant ministries and agencies to take measures against South Korea on the spot. The first one became clear. South Korea is not a "white country" for Japan.(It was deviated from the catch all system) The second and third retaliatory acts will be announced. Good luck South Korea.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

What foreign policy skills? Dealing with a dynamic environment is not in his skill set. He did a good job with domestic policies when he first came into power, but he has pretty much done nothing different over the past several years. Making the same moves every single year while expecting different results is the definition of insanity.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

https://twitter.com/i/status/1144676375145566208 (sarkasm)

See the host in action, absolutely ignored.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Sometimes achieving nothing is achieving something. We are getting a tax rise, we legally can't die from over work before 100hrs a month extra unpaid work. Can't get day care. No pay rise. Neighbors are not too friendly. Economy is tanking. That's quite a list of achievements. For somebody who seems to spend a lot of time in other countries. But he somehow managed to improve his golf score, definatly using his premium Friday's well.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Japanes in general are not good at communication outside their field. Plus, you've got Putin and Trump, not exactly the best conversational partners. Good luck.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

LagunaToday  06:52 pm JST

Japanes in general are not good at communication outside their field. Plus, you've got Putin and Trump, not exactly the best conversational partners. Good luck.

Really? Japanese in general would be the best at communication without conversation.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Japanes in general are not good at communication outside their field. Plus, you've got Putin and Trump, not exactly the best conversational partners. Good luck

At least their attentive and alert and not falling asleep as with the previous President

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

While he has achieved little visible results we have to remember diplomacy is a long game. We have all become habituated to “instant” results, but the real world doesn’t work like that. Whether his efforts will bring results in the long term we all will have to wait and see.

Maintaining such a good personal relationship with the mercurial Trump is actually quite a feat of juggling. What ever your politics on an individual level the man is easily distracted and changes with the wind. He reminds me of a Labrador, “mutual defence treaty, yes ver..look ball! Stick! Food, oh what were we talking about?”

Having any expectation of achieving a settlement with Russia is illusory, you have two parties with diametrically opposite expectations and requirements from the negotiation with neither willing to give ground. Putin has nothing to gain from agreeing to the Japanese demands, he has both the land and the negotiating upper hand, and unlike Japan and most of the west Russia understands that diplomacy is a long game and plays it accordingly.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

PM Abe Foreign policy accomplishments.

 

1)   EU-Japan Free trade  Agreement

https://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/economy/page6e_000013.html

2)   CPTPP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_and_Progressive_Agreement_for_Trans-Pacific_Partnership

 

3)   Improved Japan –China relations

 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3016415/china-and-japan-seek-take-relationship-next-level-xi-jinping

4)   Improved Japan and USA relations

https://nypost.com/2019/06/27/bro-mance-still-going-strong-for-trump-and-japans-abe/

5)   Launch Major infrastructure drives in South East Asia

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/06/23/business/china-no-match-japan-southeast-asia-infrastructure-race/#.XRiO6egzbIU

 

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Japan-US-and-Australia-begin-own-Belt-and-Road-in-South-Pacific

 

Get the point?

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

https://twitter.com/i/status/1144676375145566208 (sarkasm)

See the host in action, absolutely ignored.

LOL I looked at your "link" This what I got:

Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!

LOL Maybe you try this link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAS4Q3Zd2wo

or this link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhf2hPiHM2Y

Watch PM Abe do a great job as host.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Big doubts. Everybody is correct.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

What's he done on the world scene beyond travelling all over the place achieving nothing?

Economic and business journals have been praising Japan for bucking Trump's protectionism. Abe has in fact been getting quite a bit of praise in this area.

As for the Takushoku University professor's comment, I have to wonder whether some nuance has been lost. Takushoku University was started to train bureaucrats for Japan's colonial empire. It is decidely right-wing. The hardcore right-wing in Japan sees Abe as something of a wimp.

A Takushoku University professor being less than enthusiastic about Abe may come from thinking that readers who do not know this university might miss.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Mr.Abe did his best! Nobody can do it among Japanese politicians except for him.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"That strategy appeared to be going well. He hosted Trump as the first state guest under Japan's new imperial era of Reiwa in May to showcase the robustness of the alliance and secured backing from the U.S. leader for his efforts to reach out to Iran, with which the United States has been locked in a standoff...Then in Osaka where the G20 summit was held, Trump said the decades-old security treaty between the United States and Japan is 'unfair' and has to be changed."

So the premise of this article is that doubts have grown about Abe's foreign policy skills because Donald Trump mouthed off something crude and unappreciative about the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance at the G20 summit in Osaka. Honestly, it's ridiculous to call Abe's foreign policy skills into question for this reason. Nobody can control what Donald Trump says about anything at anytime. At the beginning of June, he called the mayor of London a "stone cold loser" on Twitter as he was flying into Stansted Airport.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

yoshiToday  07:20 am JST

Mr.Abe did his best! Nobody can do it among Japanese politicians except for him.

I doubt that. He hasn't really achieved anything especially impressive that might require outstanding diplomatic skills.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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