US Representative Says Resolution to Show Support for Japan Needed
The United States needs to express solidarity with Japan, including through a Congress resolution, amid growing Tokyo-Beijing tensions following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks regarding a possible Taiwan contingency.
- US Representative Ami Bera is calling for a congressional resolution to express solidarity with Japan amid rising tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.
- The call for support is a response to what Bera describes as China's "overreaction" and "provocative actions" following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi regarding a potential Taiwan contingency.
- Bera argues that a formal US statement of support is necessary to show China its behavior is unacceptable and to deter further aggression against Japan, a key ally.
- The Democratic representative is seeking bipartisan support for the resolution and expressed confidence that Republicans would endorse the measure.
Ami Bera, a Democrat in the US House of Representatives, said in a recent interview with Jiji Press on Sunday (December 14).
"I think Beijing overreacted," Bera, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said of China's apparent retaliatory measures in response to Takaichi's remarks, such as advising its people to refrain from visiting Japan. "Those are not how we resolve these issues."
"We as the United States should stand up and say that's not acceptable and we have your (Japan's) back," he went on to say, adding that the Democrats will continue to seek to work with the Republicans to put out a joint statement or a joint resolution expressing the United States' support for Japan, which is "one of our closest friends in the world."
"If we let China get away with this, they'll continue to do more provocative actions," he said.
Takaichi said last month that China's possible use of force against Taiwan could constitute a so-called survival-threatening situation for Japan, in which the country can exercise its right to collective self-defence.
Bera said, "I think she (Takaichi) stated the obvious, which is, it's in our interest to maintain the status quo."
"Any disruption across the Taiwan Strait will be massively disruptive to the global economy, so, of course, we (the United States) would have to react to it," as would Japan, the US representative added.
"We want to maintain the status quo, which has been beneficial to all countries in the region, in East Asia," he said, stressing that no country has benefited more from this than China.
Last week, Bera and another Democrat sent a joint letter to US President Donald Trump seeking the enhancement of support for Japan in the face of China's escalating economic and military coercion against the US ally.
Bera said he has not heard anything back from Trump.
While criticising China's use of military radar on Japanese Air Self-Defence Force fighters as "very provocative," he expressed concern over the White House's limited response to the matter.
On whether the Republican side would endorse the possible resolution showing solidarity with Japan, Bera said, "I think they would." He added, "I've had conversations with people inside the administration that recognise the Chinese actions are not appropriate and that Japan is our friend."
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
