Japan’s diplomatic blitz aims to keep US close and committed

April 2024 proved to be a busy month in Japanese-US diplomacy.

The month saw a state visit to the US by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida that included a White House sit-down with President Joe Biden on April 10. The next day, both men were joined by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for the first-ever US-Japan-Philippines trilateral summit.

Then, on April 23, a former prime minister and leading figure in Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Taro Aso, met with Donald Trump in New York.

The flurry of diplomatic activity points to two things: a keen desire on Japan’s part to ramp up engagement with Washington as part of an Indo-Pacific strategy, and very real concerns in Tokyo that the US might not be so committed – regardless of who’s leading the country after this year’s election.

Allies and co-stewards

The Japanese government under Kishida, who was elected prime minister in 2021, has made clear it is all in on the alliance with the US.

Kishida hopes to assert Japan’s role as not just the United States’ strongest ally in East Asia, but also co-steward of the “liberal international order” – that is, the global rules and agreements set up after World War II by leading economies.

Kishida’s intentions were made clear in Japan’s 2022 National Security Strategy, which detailed Japan’s short- and medium-term strategic goals.

While it included a commitment to unprecedented defense spending and the development of new defense capabilities, it did so in the context of an emphasis on the country’s relationship with the US as “the cornerstone of Japan’s national security policy.”

Japan’s strategy also calls for the bilateral relationship with the US to go beyond traditional security concerns, extending to the provision of