Japan’s new government, which has been in a “transitional” status since October 1 and was approved by the lower house of parliament on November 11 with significant reservations, has had a number of noteworthy events in the foreign policy arena.

The “Chinese” component in the foreign policy activity of Shigeru Ishiba’s government

A month later, the “Chinese component” in Shigeru Ishiba’s foreign policy activity continued during his trip to Latin America with the declared purpose of participating in the APEC and G20 Summits held there. On the margins of the first of these meetings, held in Lima, Peru, on November 15, Shigeru Ishiba met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. A Xinhua news agency report on the talks quoted a similar remark by the Chinese leader on the state of bilateral relations, which he described as being “at a critical stage of improvement and development.” Comments in the Japanese media were similarly restrained and positive.

That “restrained and positive” approach was confirmed by certain subsequent public events. In particular, it is worth noting the meeting between the two countries’ defense ministers on November 21 in Laos on the occasion of a regular ASEAN forum. Similar words were uttered during the bilateral talks. This fact itself looks remarkable in view of the fact that in Laos the Chinese refused to hold a similar meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The latter expressed “regret” at the refusal. China, in turn, referred to increased US military activity in the region in general and, in particular, to the trilateral meeting between the defense ministers of Australia, the US and Japan held earlier in Darwin. That meeting resulted in the adoption of a joint statement, which leaves no doubt about the intentions of all three participants in the event.

Another development also met with a predictable reaction from China: the news that on November 20, for the first........

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