JAPAN has been more unsettled than any other country by the sudden shift in the diplomatic tone in North-East Asia—for good reason. President Donald Trump shocked America’s biggest Asian ally in March when he accepted an offer to meet Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s dictator—a step that seemed to deviate from his previous policy of unyielding pressure on North Korea to force it to abandon its nuclear programme. The casual way Mr Trump blindsided Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, suggested that he did not especially value America’s alliance with Japan. Japan has since looked on, as South Korea takes the lead in whirlwind diplomacy on the Korean peninsula, the North’s overtures to America grow ever warmer (on May 9th it released three Americans held in North Korea) and China tries to shape any evolving deal. Xi Jinping, China’s president, has twice hosted Mr Kim, most recently in the port city of Dalian on May 7th and 8th.
That goes a long way to explain the warmth, as well as...Continue reading
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