Posted in International

Japan’s Stance Gets Stronger: Tokyo Rarely Urges Beijing to Change Its Approach to Xinjiang Hong Kong

 2021年4月6日

The Japanese government has hardened its stance on its top trading partner China, as Tokyo made a rare move to urge Beijing to improve the human rights situation in Xinjiang and stop the crackdown in Hong Kong.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi invited Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimichi Motegi to a phone call last night, April 5. The background of the call is that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will visit the United States in mid-April for talks with Biden, while Japan and Germany held their first 2+2 meeting of foreign ministers and defense ministers to discuss maritime security “with China in mind”.

Reuters reported from Tokyo on April 6 that Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsuharu Kato said at a press conference on Tuesday in response to a question about the content of Monday night’s call between the Chinese and Japanese foreign ministers, “I heard Toshichika Mogi express deep concern about human rights issues in the Xinjiang region and urge China to take concrete action on this issue,”

Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported on April 6 that Japanese Foreign Minister Toshichika Shigeki called on China’s foreign minister to take action to improve the human rights situation of the Uighurs and to stop repressive activities in Hong Kong.

The newspaper said the unusually strong signal from Tokyo comes shortly after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will visit the United States on April 16 for a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden.

Japan is usually more cautious to avoid angering China, its largest trading partner. Although Tokyo is a close ally of Washington, but in March did not join the United States and several other countries, because of Beijing’s suppression of the Uighurs and the implementation of sanctions against China.

Some analyses of Tokyo’s sudden hardening of its attitude toward Beijing point to a link to Taiwan. Japan reached a consensus with the United States to assist the U.S. military in defending Taiwan after the U.S. military brass predicted that China would attack Taiwan within six years.