Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters on Nov. 7 in his Tokyo office following a phone call with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Donald Trump's return to the U.S. presidency will present a challenge for Japan, which depends on its alliance with the United States as a cornerstone of its diplomatic and security policies.

Trump espouses an America First policy and does not hesitate to put pressure on Washington's allies. 

Japan will face a test of its independence in foreign policy, including if the country can outgrow its reliance on the United States and take the lead in efforts for international cooperation.

When Trump served his first stint as U.S. president, Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister at the time, forged good ties with him that some likened to a “honeymoon.”

Abe developed a personal friendship with Trump, including by forestalling other national leaders in meeting him ahead of his inauguration as U.S. president and by playing golf with him on multiple occasions.

Abe, however, did not dissuade Trump from turning his back on multilateral frameworks, which he typically did when he had the United States leave the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade arrangement.

Abe was, in the meantime, sometimes conspicuously obsequious to the United States, such as when he decided, at Trump’s request, on the bulk buying of U.S.-made fighter jets of an expensive, state-of-the-art model.

The current administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has attached importance to Washington’s ties with its allies, but Trump, by contrast, is strongly dissatisfied that those allies are “free-riding” on the United States.

A former close aide to Trump from the time of his first stint as president said that Trump once called on Japan to more than triple its annual host-nation support for the U.S. troops in the country to $8 billion (1.225 trillion yen).

The administration of former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida decided to double Japan’s defense spending in the future to 2 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. It still appears highly likely that Trump will call for a further increase of that expenditure.

While it is essential, considering the severe security climate in East Asia, to continue ensuring U.S. involvement in this region, Japan certainly couldn’t afford to comply with excessive demand that would be well beyond the country’s means.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba spoke to Trump by phone to congratulate him. He later said: “I got the impression that he is someone with whom you can speak frankly.”

If that is what he felt, he should tell Trump frankly about the role Japan has been playing and about the limits to what the nation can do.

Ishiba is hoping to visit the United States at an early date to meet Trump to forge ties with him as soon as possible. 

Given that Japan’s ruling coalition has lost the majority of seats in the Lower House and the Ishiba administration’s power base remains weak, however, it would be anything but easy for the prime minister to gain Trump’s support, for example, toward his argument that the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement should be amended.

Japan should not only focus on its ties with the United States alone but also play an active role in preventing a destabilization in the international community and in building a stable world order.

The country could, for example, serve as a mediator for a U.S.-China detente. It could call on the United States to continue providing assistance to Ukraine so there will be no repeat of a one-sided change of the status quo by force.

Japan could also coordinate talks between officials of concerned nations toward a denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

U.S. involvement is indispensable for addressing global challenges such as global warming, nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, and free trade.

Japan should strengthen its cooperation with other members of the Group of Seven and with Asia-Pacific nations, including South Korea, Australia, ASEAN and India, to apply the brakes on U.S. unilateralism.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 10