July of this year saw a multitude of noteworthy events along the line of Japanese foreign policy.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa visited Europe again

She did so ‘again’, as she visited Europe only two and a half months earlier together with her boss, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Their main interlocutor was French President Emmanuel Macron. At the end of June, the Japanese imperial couple visited the UK for a week-long ‘visit of goodwill’.

Y. Kamikawa naturally contacted some of her European colleagues during the G7 ministerial meeting held in mid-June in southern Italy, just as F. Kishida did during the NATO anniversary summit held on July 9-11 in Washington. At the end of the latter event, the Japanese Prime Minister, who participated as one of the main guests, stopped in Germany on his way home, where he held talks with his colleague Olaf Scholz.

Thus, on July 15, Y. Kamikawa went on a week-long tour, visiting Italy, then Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Kosovo. When explaining Japan’s recent active behaviour in Europe, a general trend emerges: two of the three leading Asian powers (China and Japan) are positioning themselves in an increasingly competitive way internationally. It is very likely that this trend is spreading to Europe. Among the latest evidence of China’s increased activity in Europe, we will mention the trip of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to France, Serbia and Hungary in early May.

We shall also draw attention to the fact that the Japanese Foreign Minister visited Italy two weeks before the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, went on a long-announced visit to China. This was, in itself, a remarkable event, though it deserves to be commented on separately. Let us recall that six months earlier, Italy withdrew from the key Chinese Belt and Road Initiative project – though not without a serious internal political struggle, but still. Moreover, ‘in the format of don Basilio’, i.e. quietly and invisibly, apparently with a feeling of certain discomfort. It seems that the country’s prime minister will explain herself directly to the Chinese leader in this regard.

All these ‘nuances’ in the relations of Italy, as well as other European countries with China, cannot but be of interest to Japan. It is quite possible to assume that while in Italy, Y. Kamikawa was engaged........

© New Eastern Outlook