Photo/Illutration Yoshihiko Noda, left, president of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, holds a debate with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, seated right, in the Diet on April 23. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba defended his top trade negotiator who has come under attack for appearing submissive to U.S. President Donald Trump during their meeting at the White House.

Ishiba said Ryosei Akazawa, minister in charge of economic revitalization, was leading the best negotiation team at the time to Washington.

“Akazawa did the best he could,” the prime minister said in a one-on-one Diet debate on April 23 with Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

Noda, however, implied that Akazawa, a long-time ally of Ishiba, humiliated himself in front of the world.

The White House released photographs of Akazawa wearing a red Make America Great Again cap, a symbol of the Trump movement, during the meeting in Washington on April 16.

One photograph shows a smiling Akazawa giving two thumbs-up across the table from Trump.

“Akazawa, who was easily pushed to wear that cap, looked like he was engaged in tributary diplomacy, when many countries were closely watching,” Noda said. “He really earned bad marks.”

Ishiba, president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, emphasized that the world must continue to safeguard its free trade system, and that Japan and the United States will demonstrate what they can do together for the world.

Noda, a former prime minister, said Japan needs the determination and diplomatic strategy to bear the flag of free trade and create a network of free trade zones to fight the growing tide of protectionism.

In his debate with Ishiba, Seiji Maehara, co-representative of the Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin), called for revising the Constitution as well as the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, which Trump claims is unfair to Washington.

Maehara said Japan’s right to collective self-defense and the existence of the Self-Defense Forces need to be written into the Constitution to address issues concerning the security treaty that Trump believes are lopsidedly in favor of Japan.

Ishiba, a defense expert, said discussions on changing the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty need to be deepened “above partisan interests.”

He also agreed on the need to discuss revisions of the Constitution.

“We must continue to hold constitutional debates on what makes a sovereign state,” the prime minister said.

Related News