The following is from a feature article in the monthly magazine WiLL titled "U.S. Society Under Pressure for Freedom of Speech and Press," in which Genki Fujii talks with Yoichi Shimada.
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Don't engage in apology diplomacy
Fujii
South Korea is cunning, so there is a good chance to use the U.S. to rehash the comfort women issue.
In 2015, then-Prime Minister Abe accepted an extremely inadequate compromise agreement to pay one billion yen as the final agreement between Japan and South Korea on the comfort women issue. Still, this agreement was backed by pressure from the Obama administration.
The role of Susan Rice, the assistant to the president, was particularly significant.
Shimada
I heard that Biden was also involved in the agreement as a mediator.
However, South Korea violated the agreement.
Some people are optimistic that Biden will be angry with the South Koreans because he was tarnished.
But first of all, I wonder if Biden remembers what he said six years ago (laughs).
Fujii
Even if he does, he pretends to have forgotten.
Shimada
The most troublesome case is when someone remembers, but only vaguely, and when Moon Jae-in or Song Kim tells them that the Japanese side has rehashed the comfort women issue, they say, "I don't know, but Japan is reprehensible.
If Harris agitates from the side, saying things like, "Of course it's all Japan's fault for making women into sex slaves," there is a possibility that Biden will be unreasonably enraged.
Fujii
I heard that Yukio Hatoyama was immediately influenced by someone he met just before he left, and the same thing could happen to Biden.
Moreover, this is when the world is getting the impression that Japan is a country where Yoshiro Mori's comments are discriminatory and disrespectful to women.
It is conceivable that Harris could take advantage of such a bad impression to launch a crazy human rights diplomacy based on a fabricated case.
The same goes for the Nanking Massacre case, which may turn out to be a Chinese manipulation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should base its claims on the facts, but it is too quick to resort to apology diplomacy.
If they do that, they will only be implicitly admitting that it is a historical fact.
Shimada.
During the Trump era, there was a relationship of trust between Abe and Trump, so they didn't give South Korea any room to maneuver on the issue of history.
Moreover, Trump despised Moon Jae-in so much that he didn't even bother to listen to him in the first place, telling him that he didn't have to interpret for him.
Fujii
I am worried that Mr. Suga will become a yes-man for Biden.
At the moment, I'm more worried about that.
Shimada
Anyway, Biden is a famous man because a substance does not accompany his words.
As former President Reagan described him as "a pure demagogue," he is good at making vague speeches, but he lacks the conceptual ability and concentration to lead to concrete results.
And he is indecisive.
In his memoirs, Biden revealed that the media criticized him for making sizzling sounds but no steak (laughs).
Fujii.
I wonder if he's aware of that (laughs).
Shimada.
A typical example of indecision was in 2011, during the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden.
Biden was reluctant to go through with it until the end, saying that the political downside of failure would be too great.
In the end, Obama made the decision and carried it out.
This article continues.
