Visiting Brussels on Thursday to meet Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Council President Donald Tusk, Abe seemed to sing all the favorite tunes from the EU songbook. He fiercely defended the need for a free and fair international trading system, spoke out in favor of liberal democratic ideals, including human rights and the rule of law, called for protecting the environment, for nuclear disarmament of North Korea, and for avoiding a no-deal Brexit “by all means.”
Abe also pointedly declared that Japan shares the EU’s concerns and goals regarding China, particularly its “Belt and Road” Initiative, and he sent subtle but clear signals that Tokyo stands with Brussels against the economic protectionism being pursued by U.S. President Donald Trump, and would likely push back if Washington seeks to initiate a trade war by levying further unilateral tariffs.
At a news conference Thursday evening, Abe and his European counterparts did not quite finish each other’s sentences but they happily spoke each other’s lines — underscoring their friendship by raising each other’s priorities.
And they repeatedly trumpeted the benefits of a landmark free-trade deal, called the Economic Partnership Agreement, that was pushed over the finish line in July 2017, largely in response to Trump’s aggression and unpredictability, and which took effect on February 1.
“The most important subject of the present international community is to maintain the free trade regime,” Abe said at the start of his opening statements, with a line that could easily have been uttered by Juncker or by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Japan this year holds the presidency of the G20 group of economic powers and much of the discussions on Thursday focused on plans to carry out a successful leaders’ summit in Osaka in June, where the Japanese hope to avoid the sort of blow-ups by Trump that have marred previous global summits, including a G7 gathering in Quebec and a NATO leaders’ summit in Brussels.
The G20 priorities that Japan has laid out easily could have been written by EU officials.
“We agreed to cooperate with the EU so that the G20 will send a strong message to the international community to support free trade and toward WTO reform,” Abe said. “I asked for strong support from the EU to start the Osaka track to discuss mainly on data governance and in particular on e-commerce.
“For women’s empowerment, we shared our understanding of the importance of women’s labor participation, girls’ education and support for women entrepreneurs,” he continued. “For marine plastic waste, we agreed that a global initiative is indispensable.”
“The Japan-EU relationship is steadily deepening,” he declared.
At a time when Trump has deeply unsettled transatlantic relations, it was clear from Thursday’s gathering that the EU’s most like-minded Western ally at the moment is located in the Far East.
A senior EU official stopped short of saying that there is a firm compact with Japan to respond jointly to any further economic aggression by Trump. Brussels would clearly want such coordinated defensive measures if Trump ever followed through on threats to impose tariffs on EU-made cars.
“But,” the senior official said. “I do confirm that there is a very good degree of cooperation over the common challenge we both have. We are players inside the multilateral system. We want to keep this multilateral system well-functioning and want to reform it, and we do not want to go into a situation where the U.S. will be using similar methods as they currently do to get a deal with the Chinese.”
As for the broad synergies apparent at Thursday’s news conference, the senior EU official said: “It’s true we have an incredible degree of convergence on almost everything.”
Almost. But not everything.
Abe stressed Japan’s hope that the EU will drop restrictions on the import of some Japanese food products that were imposed after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. It is an issue of political urgency back home in Japan, but the EU is unlikely to lift those bans anytime soon.
Japan has also put forth a position on how to overhaul the World Trade Organization’s dispute resolution mechanisms that diverges from the EU’s preferred approach. That is partly the result of the WTO’s appellate court decision earlier this month overturning a ruling in Japan’s favor in an even sharper dispute with South Korea over foodstuffs banned after the nuclear disaster.
Still, Japan’s view could help bridge even bigger differences between the EU and U.S. positions on reforming the WTO.
On many other issues, though, the EU and Japan are fully aligned.
Noting a meeting that took place Thursday between the leaders of Russia and North Korea, Abe said, “We again agreed to closely cooperate to realize a complete, verifiable and irreversible abandonment of all weapons of mass destruction and all ballistic missiles of all ranges by North Korea.”
On Brexit, Abe stressed that many Japanese companies had invested in Britain as a member of the European Union and they are now being forced to reassess.
“A no-deal Brexit is what we have to avoid by all means,” he said, noting that Japanese companies need legal stability in order to maintain their business operations in the U.K. “For Japan, the U.K. is the gateway to Europe,” he said, adding: “So a smooth Brexit is what we are hoping for.”
Asked about China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Abe laid out a list of requirements nearly identical to those voiced by Tusk and Juncker during a meeting two weeks ago with Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.
“It is expected that the Belt and Road Initiative will positively contribute to regional and global stability by incorporating concepts common to international standards, such as infrastructure openness, transparency, economic viability and financial soundness of recipient countries,” Abe said. “And by doing so, I hope they will contribute to the peace and prosperity of the world.”
Abe also had a veiled message for Trump, ahead of a meeting with the U.S. president on Friday in Washington. Abe plans to attend a birthday party for Melania Trump and also go golfing with the president on Saturday. But on international trade issues, he’s closer on par with the EU.
“With expansion of uncertainties and economic protectionism in the international community, Japan-EU cooperation, which shares universal values, is becoming more important,” Abe said.
Juncker even found common ground with Abe on the subject of royal life events.
Grand Duke Jean, of Juncker’s native Luxembourg, died this week at the age of 98. And Japan is currently bracing for the April 30 abdication of Emperor Akihito, to be succeeded by his eldest son, Crown Prince Naruhito. (Jean abdicated in 2000 in favor of his own son, Henri.) Abe offered his condolences to Luxembourg, while Juncker and Tusk offered best wishes to Japan for the new Reiwa era that will begin when Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne.
Tusk closed out the press conference with the political version of BFF forever.
“Japan is and will remain our closest friend and partner in Asia,” he said. “It’s because of the past, because of the tradition, but also because of the future challenges. And you can be sure we will be very loyal to each other. It’s no doubt.”
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