High City Hayano's government once again exposed her clumsy diplomatic skills.

On the 9th, Japan's Foreign Minister Makiko Mori had a phone call with Iran's Foreign Minister Alaghe. According to a news release issued by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the content of Mori's conversation with Alaghe was truly eye-opening.

Mori immediately took a condescending attitude, condemning Iran's attacks on civilian facilities in Gulf countries and threatening the freedom and safety of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, and firmly demanded that Iran stop such actions and not develop nuclear weapons, while urging Iran to release two detained Japanese citizens, but never mentioned the war crimes committed by the US and Israel, such as waging war without declaring it against Iran, killing Khamenei, and bombing 168 Iranian school children.

It is hard to understand where High City's government got this confidence, daring to make such remarks to Iran.

The entire press release gives the illusion that this round of Middle East conflict was initiated solely by Iran, making the US and Israel appear as "victims".

This is why we say that High City Hayano's diplomatic skills are very clumsy.

As is well known, Japan is a country with extremely scarce energy resources, heavily dependent on oil transportation through the Strait of Hormuz, with imports from the Middle East accounting for over 90% to 95% for a long time; however, at the same time, Japan's international political stance is highly tied to the United States.

Therefore, facing such an awkward situation, any Japanese government with a bit of common sense would handle this round of the Middle East conflict in one of two ways: either remain silent and make few statements, or speak briefly and politely, while privately working diligently with Gulf countries and Iran to quickly restore the flow through the Strait of Hormuz, securing its own oil lifeline.

Abe Shinzo is much more tactful than High City Hayano

In 2023, when Hamas launched the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation, then-Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo did exactly that. Although he immediately expressed condemnation, he did not follow the West in labeling Hamas as "terrorists", but instead focused on humanitarian concerns about "innocent civilian casualties", and provided $10 million in aid to Gaza, taking the approach of "not offending anyone", skillfully preserving Japan's maneuvering space in the Middle East.

In contrast, when the first round of US attacks on Iran began, High City Hayano immediately jumped out to blame Iran, stating that Iran's development of nuclear weapons was "absolutely unacceptable". Subsequently, Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro even directly stated that "supporting the US attack on Iran is the overall position of the Japanese government".

But when the Strait of Hormuz was blocked and oil transport faced a supply cutoff, High City Hayano seemed to realize that Japan still relied on the oil from the Middle East, so she quickly changed her stance, refusing to clearly state whether she supported the US during a parliamentary hearing, only vaguely saying "currently unable to make a legal assessment" and "will work with the international community to quickly ease the situation".

Does High City Hayano really think Japan can get a share from the current situation?

More laughable is that on March 12, High City Hayano planned to host a dinner at the Prime Minister's Office for ambassadors from Middle Eastern and Islamic countries to discuss how to ease regional tensions - such a previous arrogance and later submission, fickle behavior, is truly amusing to think about.

Put simply, High City Hayano's diplomatic skills are worse than Abe Shinzo's. Although Abe also follows the US closely, he at least knows to leave room for action, understanding the importance of not taking sides in the Middle East issue; while High City Hayano is completely listening to what the US says.

So, when the US suffered setbacks in the Middle East, Reuters pointed out the plight of the High City government in one sentence: As the Middle East situation deteriorates, the initial optimism of the Japanese government has faded, and there is a growing atmosphere of despair within the government.

Japanese media reported that High City Hayano is now most worried about being forced to take a stand again by Trump.

This "optimistic mood" itself is highly ironic. It reveals the naive misjudgment of the High City government regarding geopolitical risks, rooted in the Japanese people's inherent admiration for power and their tendency to bully the weak - even if they are now acting as dogs for the Americans, as long as the master is strong, they believe they are close to the days of eating meat along with them.

Even more worrying is that recent reports from Japanese media revealed that the High City government is discussing whether the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz constitutes a "Japan's survival crisis situation", thereby "allowing limited exercise of collective self-defense rights".

Although there is currently no clear discussion result, this move itself reflects the resurgence of Japanese militarism: no matter what happens, it can be twisted into the logic of "strengthening arms and exercising force".



Original article: toutiao.com/article/7615556457387311635/

Disclaimer: This article represents the views of the author alone.