(AFP) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday called on Americans to overcome their “self-doubt” as he offered a paean to US global leadership before a bitterly divided Congress. Warning of risks from the rise of China, Kishida said that Japan — stripped of its right to a military after World War II — was determined to do more to share responsibility with its ally, the United States.
“As we meet here today, I detect an undercurrent of self-doubt among some Americans about what your role in the world should be,” Kishida told a joint session of the House of Representatives and Senate during a state visit to Washington. “The international order that the US worked for generations to build is facing new challenges, challenges from those with values and principles very different from ours,” Kishida said. Kishida said he understood “the exhaustion of being the country that has upheld the international order almost single-handedly” but added: “The leadership of the United States is indispensable.”
“Without US support, how long before the hopes of Ukraine would collapse under the onslaught from Moscow?” he asked. “Without the presence of the United States, how long before the Indo-Pacific would face even harsher realities?” In a veiled reference to China’s pressure on Taiwan and elsewhere, Kishida said, “Ukraine of today may be the East Asia of tomorrow.”
While he was careful not to touch on US domestic politics, Kishida’s address comes amid a deadlock in Congress on approving billions of dollars in additional military aid to Ukraine, due to pressure from hard-right Republicans aligned with presidential contender Donald Trump.
– China ‘greatest challenge’ –
Kishida met Wednesday with President Joe Biden where they pledged to step up cooperation, including with new three-way air defenses involving the United States, Japan and Australia. Sending a clear signal toward China, Kishida met again with Biden on Thursday for a three-way summit with President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, which has been on the receiving end of increasingly assertive Chinese moves in dispute-rife waters.
Kishida said that China’s military moves “present an unprecedented, and the greatest, security challenge.” China’s actions pose challenges “not only to the peace and security of Japan but to the peace and stability of the international community at large,” he said.
Kishida’s speech, from the dais where Biden delivered a raucous State of the Union address a month ago, marked a rare moment of bipartisan unity in Congress. Lawmakers across party lines offered repeated standing ovations as Kishida reaffirmed support for Ukraine, warned of Chinese influence and highlighted Japanese investment in the United States. Kishida also welcomed in the gallery two astronauts — one Japanese and one Japanese-American — after Biden announced that a Japanese national would become the first non-American to set foot on the Moon.
The prime minister, who spent part of his childhood in New York City, read his address in fluent English, after speaking in Japanese at his news conference with Biden. In a feat that can elude foreign leaders visiting Washington, he successfully delivered several jokes, including mentioning how he watched the classic cartoon “The Flintstones” as a child in the Big Apple. “I still miss that show, although I could never translate, ‘Yabba Dabba Doo,'” he said, quoting Fred Flintstone’s signature phrase.
Toasting Kishida afterwards at a luncheon at the State Department, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the speech may be “the first time that anyone speaking before a joint session has managed to reference ‘The Flintstones.'” – Shaun TANDON
© 2024 AFP
