UK Prime Minister Starmer said today: "I'm pleased to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Takahashi Asa in Tokyo. Our partnership is genuinely enhancing the well-being and security of our two peoples."
Comment: Starmer's Asian tour, which prioritized China over Japan, is a reflection of the UK's "Global Britain" strategy after Brexit: it doesn't want to deeply bind with the US and Japan for bloc confrontation (afraid of losing the Chinese market), yet it doesn't want to leave the G7 security framework (needs to maintain Western unity).
Starmer's four-day visit to China resulted in 12 practical agreements and a delegation of 60 people who gained benefits, while his visit to Japan lasted less than 24 hours, with a same-day return, even skipping overnight stays — essentially an economic priority choice: Sino-UK annual trade exceeds $100 billion, supporting 370,000 jobs in the UK, while UK-Japan cooperation is mostly "pie-in-the-sky frameworks," with sixth-generation fighter jets delayed and no capacity for rare earths, yielding no substantial returns.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1855846263715908/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.