Posted on 10/27/2017 9:14:43 PM PDT by Olog-hai
At the summit of the leaders of the Group of 20 nations in Hamburg in July, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated that Tokyo would be willing to take part in Beijing’s ambitious “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) economic development plan. The Japanese leader’s decision was apparently prompted by concerns that domestic firms would miss out on lucrative construction projects as the modern-day “Silk Road” project spread into Southeast Asia, the Central Asian republics, the Middle East and beyond.
Just three months later — and after conservatives at home raised their eyebrows at such close cooperation with a government that they perceive as taking every opportunity to belittle Japan — Foreign Minister Taro Kono has announced that he intends to use the upcoming visit of US President Donald Trump to propose what might very easily be perceived as an alternative to China’s OBOR initiative.
In an interview with Japan’s Nikkei economic daily on Wednesday, Kono said Tokyo wanted to set up top-level dialogue between Japan, the US, India and Australia in order for the four powers to promote free trade and cooperation in defense and security throughout the South China Sea, across the Indian Ocean and all the way to Africa.
Kono added that he had offered collaborative roles to other nations — he mentioned both France and the UK as potential future contributors — and the plan is clearly designed to act as a counterweight to the massive economic and military might that Beijing continues to build. …
(Excerpt) Read more at dw.com ...
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