Starmer Takes His Asian Roadshow to Japan for Talks on China, Taiwan

Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, wants his allies to know he’s on their side after schmoozing with President Xi Jinping at Beijing. Mr. Starmer pledged military cooperation with Communist China’s historic foe, Japan, assuring Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi he would work together “to strengthen our collective security, across the Euro-Atlantic and in the Indo-Pacific.”Mr. Starmer and Ms. Takaichi said not a word about China, which has been unleashing gusts of rhetoric that a Chinese attack on the island democracy of Taiwan would threaten Japan’s own survival. The implication is that in a military showdown Japan would side with Taiwan, a topic that Mr. Starmer carefully avoided during his four days in China last week.An outspoken conservative, Ms. Takaichi left no doubt of her worries about China when she said that she and Mr. Starmer would talk about “a free and open Indo-Pacific, the Middle East situation and Ukraine situation.” Together, she said, they would “take Japan-British cooperation to new heights and further deepen it in the coming age.”Those fighting words reflected Ms. Takaichi’s aggressive goal of shoring up Japan’s military strength as she faces a snap election that she called for February 8 for members of the Japanese parliament, or Diet, which elects the prime minister. Betting on her popularity as Japan’s first female prime minister, she dissolved the Diet and set the election as a referendum on her hardline policies.Aside from defense, Mr. Starmer and Ms. Takaichi shared common concerns about their reliance on Chinese minerals and rare earth. They agreed, said Kyodo, the Japanese news agency, “on the urgent need for their countries and like-minded partners to cooperate in strengthening supply chains of critical minerals, as Tokyo seeks to align more closely with London in the face of China’s growing clout.”Mr. Starmer appeared well aware of President Trump’s warning that doing business with China could be “very dangerous.” Both Britain and Japan, he said, had “a clear interest in maintaining free and predictable trade and a free and open Indo-Pacific to ensure our businesses can thrive. “ The solution, Kyodo quoted him as saying, “must be one of strength and clarity, deepening our resilience, our powers and our alliances”However vague his remarks, Mr. Starmer in Japan gave an impression of standing up to China that he failed to show in Beijing. His “diplomatic mission to Beijing has ended in utter failure,” said the conservative London newspaper, the Daily Telegraph. Beijing, the paper said, viewed him as “a supplicant come to beg for crumbs.”

Starmer Takes His Asian Roadshow to Japan for Talks on China, Taiwan

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