Opinion | If Trump wants a deal with China, he must rein in US allies in Asia
From Manila to Tokyo, domestic political dynamics are increasing the risks of a dangerous confrontation between Washington and Beijing
US President Donald Trump’s hopes for a grand deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping are being undercut by American allies’ self-interested amplification of the “China threat”.
However, for many, the brutality of the imperial Japanese army is not history; it remains an open wound. On the sidelines of the Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur, Takaichi’s visit to a Japanese cemetery sparked controversy, with critics seeing it as a troubling downplaying of Japan’s wartime atrocities.
The concern is more than symbolic. Takaichi, an arch-conservative, represents a right-wing vision that seeks to restore Japan to the imperial strength it held before 1945.