Now that the upcoming Japanese leadership struggle has begun, I previously observed that Shinjiro Koizumi was clearly a clown. Now it’s apparent that another leading candidate is as well:
A senior US State Department official has said that it is “too early” to talk about building a NATO-style bloc in Asia, after Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba called on Washington to discuss the matter in more depth.
Ishiba, who is a leading candidate to succeed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, called last week for the creation of an “Asian version of NATO” by “uniting” its various security arrangements in the region into a formal defense pact. “At least we should deepen our discussions on this topic,” he said.
Speaking at a conference in Washington, DC on Tuesday, Assistant US Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Daniel Kritenbrink shot down Ishiba’s suggestion.
“It’s too early to talk about collective security in that context, and [the creation of] more formal institutions,” Kritenbrink said, according to Japan’s Nikkei newspaper. “What we’re focused on is investing in the region’s existing formal architecture and continuing to build this network of formal and informal relationships. And then we’ll see where that goes.”
One would think that after 70 years of US military occupation, signing up to play the role of Ukraine to China’s Russia would be the last thing that any Japanese politician would support. And yet, here we are. Clown World already set up an Asian NATO called SEATO, which collapsed in 1977, but now that China is posing a serious challenge, they’re having the Japanese take the lead on reviving it.
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, Philippines. The formal institution of SEATO was established on 19 February 1955 at a meeting of treaty partners in Bangkok, Thailand. The organization’s headquarters were also in Bangkok. Eight members joined the organization. Primarily created to block further communist gains in Southeast Asia, SEATO is generally considered a failure because internal conflict and dispute hindered general use of the SEATO military; however, SEATO-funded cultural and educational programs left long-standing effects in Southeast Asia. SEATO was dissolved on 30 June 1977 after many members lost interest and withdrew.
It may well be that none of the leadership candidates are free of clown control, as I’m skeptical of both the female candidates, and particularly the young Digital minister. Which suggests that if Japan is going to break free and join the sovereign nations in the next ten years, it won’t be through the LDP.