Japan 2017: Defending the domestic and international status quo

The year 2017 proved a transitory testing time for the Abe administration, because the prime minister faced a series of new international and domestic hurdles. While the North Korean crisis dominated Japanese media, China and the US remained Japan’s main strategic concern. Following the US’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, Abe engaged the Trump White House and defused its protectionist and potentially isolationist «America First» doctrine. Trump’s focus on the DPRK missile and nuclear threat translated into a relatively moderate China policy. To hedge against the risks of a transactional US-China détente, Abe made symbolic pledges of cooperation with Beijing. Meanwhile, as US-China rivalry in the economic and military domain resurfaced, the Japanese and US governments pushed for an Indo-Pacific strategy that more confidently balanced China’s regional influence. At the domestic level, Abe confronted a series of political scandals that involved himself and some of his closest political allies. In an attempt to mend public support for his promises to reform Japan’s economy and to revise the post-war state, Abe dissolved the Lower House and, in the ensuing elections, confirmed the supermajority enjoyed by the coalition government. As a result, the LDP has consolidated its one-party dominance, while the opposition remains fragmented and weak. In summary, our review of 2017 suggests that Japan’s overall foreign policy line remained unchanged, while Abe has successfully consolidated the status quo of LDP one-party dominance.

Sebastian Maslow | The University of Tokyo | maslow@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Giulio Pugliese | King’s College, London | giulio.pugliese@kcl.ac.uk