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The Pacific Islands Summit opens in Tokyo: "Most participating countries do not want to speak ill of China"

2024-07-18

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[Global Times correspondent in Japan Yue Linwei, Global Times reporter Xing Xiaojing, Wang Ying] The "10th Pacific Islands Summit" attended by leaders of 18 Pacific island countries and regions and Japan opened in Tokyo on the 16th for a period of 3 days. According to Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" on the 17th, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida emphasized during bilateral talks with some Pacific island leaders that Japan will "further strengthen its ties with the Pacific island countries." Japan's "Daily News" bluntly stated that China's growing influence on the Pacific island countries has given Japan a "sense of crisis" and Japan hopes to strengthen cooperation with the region. Yasukatsu Matsushima, a professor at the Faculty of Economics at Ryukoku University in Japan, said in an interview with a reporter from the "Global Times" on the 17th that what the Japanese government has done cannot weaken the ties between China and the Pacific island countries.

According to Kyodo News, Kishida Fumio met with leaders of seven Pacific island countries including Palau, Fiji and Samoa on the 17th. On the evening of the 17th, Kishida Fumio and his wife hosted a dinner at the Tokyo Guest House to entertain the participants. Kyodo News said that the summit will hold a plenary session on the 18th to discuss security and economy, and will issue a joint statement and joint action plan from the leaders. In addition, Kishida Fumio also plans to provide more than 60 billion yen (about 2.8 billion yuan) in aid to Pacific island countries in the next three years.

Some people believe that during this summit, Palau President Whipps was one of the few Pacific island leaders who openly cooperated with Japan to express "concerns" about China and exaggerate the "China threat." In fact, before the summit, Jennifer Anson, security coordinator of the Palau Presidential Palace, said in an interview with the Japan Broadcasting Association TV station: "Most of the summit participants have close relations with China and do not want to say bad things about China."

Japan's Sankei Shimbun analyzed on the 16th that as countries around the world, including China and the United States, become more involved in the region for their own reasons, Pacific island countries are currently trying to seek balanced diplomacy, and their relations with Japan are showing "unprecedented alienation." The report said that before the summit, the leaders of Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands visited China successively.

"Japan hopes to deepen its military ties with the Pacific island countries through this meeting more than ever before." Yasukatsu Matsushima analyzed that under the guise of "China threat theory," the Japanese government is trying to expand the influence of the Self-Defense Forces and the Coast Guard in the Pacific island countries, but these actions will not only fail to bring real security guarantees to the Pacific island countries, but will instead strengthen the actual control of Japan, the United States and other countries over the region, pushing them into a dangerous situation.

Matsushima Yasukatsu told the Global Times that in fact, the Pacific island countries do not care about the so-called "China threat" at all. What they are concerned about is how to deal with the Fukushima nuclear contaminated water that was dumped, which is inconsistent with the practices and claims of the Japanese government. He stressed that the Pacific island countries should have the right to choose independently on how to develop diplomatic relations and which countries to start economic and trade cooperation with.