Japan’s goal of stronger engagement with the Global South hinges on active cooperation with China

The annual Diplomatic Bluebook that Japan’s Foreign Ministry published in April points out the need for cooperation in China-Japan relations, reinstating the expression “mutually beneficial relations” for the first time in five years, which sends a positive signal.

However, the Bluebook retains the previous edition’s perception of China, positioning it as the greatest strategic challenge Japan has ever faced. This means we have contradictory and confusing signals. On the one hand, Japan claims to promote mutually beneficial relations with China, and on the other hand it spares no efforts to portray China in a negative light.

Japan’s self-contradictory China policy manifests in its “Global South” diplomacy.

Earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Brazil and Paraguay, while Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa embarked on a tour of Africa and South Asia. Both the diplomatic tours were reportedly aimed at aligning “Global South” countries with the G7 and reducing their dependence on China.

Recognizing the collective rise of developing nations and the consequential shift it has brought to the global order, Japan included the phrase “Global South” to its Diplomatic Bluebook for the first time last year. However, if Japan’s Global South diplomacy revolves around containing China, it will not help build mutually beneficial relations between the two neighbors, and will limit Japan’s ambition to play a larger role in global affairs.

First, aligning Japan’s Global South diplomacy with China-Japan cooperation in third countries will create wider strategic space for the country.

Back in 2018, the two countries reached a consensus on deepening their strategic partnership, a major component of which is cooperation in third countries. As developing countries need large amounts of capital, technology and expertise to develop their economies, cooperation between China and Japan can bring immense benefits to developing countries while improving the two countries’ mutual trust.

China has helped build high-speed railways in Southeast Asian countries. Japan, which has close economic and trade ties with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, could have contributed to boosting connectivity in the region. Regrettably, Japan regards China’s efforts to bolster regional integration with skepticism, perceiving China-aided infrastructure projects as “debt traps” driven by geopolitical motives.

That being said, Asia’s progress in infrastructure integration has not halted because of Japan’s negative perceptions, and countries on the Indo-China Peninsula share strong demand for collaborative projects. The China-Laos Railway and the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway are good examples of fruitful cross-border collaboration.

Second, Japan’s Global South diplomacy should be based on the recognition of developing countries’ growing aspirations for strategic autonomy.

The Ukraine crisis has dramatically changed the strategic thinking of Japan. The new perception is that the world is divided into three camps — one led by the United States, Japan and Europe, another led by China and Russia, and the third one comprising a number of emerging countries.

To make up the leadership deficit of the US-led international order, Japan has proactively taken the job of drawing Global South countries over to the Western bloc.

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This binary worldview divides the globe into two opposing blocs — the Western alliance and the China-Russia partnership, with the Global South being a wrestling ring for geopolitical competition between the two blocs. This worldview hinders Japan from seeing the aspirations among developing countries for strategic autonomy.

Take Brazil as an example. As the largest country in South America and a representative of the Global South, Brazil is committed to maintaining strategic independence and thus shows little interest in bloc politics.

During his visit to China in April last year, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met leaders of major Chinese enterprises, including Huawei, BYD, and China Communications Construction. Brazil did not exclude Huawei from its 5G networks despite Western countries’ crackdown on the Chinese telecommunications giant on the pretext of so-called national security concerns. Neither did Brazil reject China Communications Construction because of the so-called debt trap accusations leveled against it.

Japan’s Global South diplomacy should not serve as a supplement for the US’ global strategy. Instead, Tokyo should explore China-Japan collaboration in Global South countries in economic, political and diplomatic fields.

In a word, “building mutually beneficial relations between China and Japan” should not be merely a slogan, but a concrete goal to strive for. Cooperation in the Global South is an important area for the two countries to forge stronger relations.

The author is an associate professor of international relations at Niigata University in Japan and a nonresident senior fellow at the Center on Contemporary China and the World at the University of Hong Kong. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.