With the void the USA has left the Indo-Pacific region, the only country that is filling its shoes is Japan. After time and again showing support to Taiwan both verbally and practically, now it has come to the rescue of the Pacific Island nations. The Japanese are offering a very easy barter, that is to befriend Taiwan and get their share of free vaccines. In a conference on Friday, Japan urged Pacific island leaders to unify against authoritarianism, providing coronavirus vaccine doses and economic assistance to a region that is becoming increasingly important in combined efforts with the US to counter Chinese expansionism.
Japan will provide 3 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Pacific island states and territories beginning in mid-July through the United Nations-backed COVAX global vaccine distribution initiative, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Friday. Suga’s remark came as leaders of Japan and Pacific island nations and territories met online on Friday, with Tokyo attempting to promote its “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy” in an apparent attempt to challenge China’s expanding influence in the region. The 14 Pacific island countries are the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
As Beijing presses island states to terminate diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Japan and the United States are increasing their efforts to keep them on their side in a tug of war with an authoritarian China. Manabu Sakai, Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, told reporters after the conference that China and Taiwan “were not discussed at all.” However, Beijing’s expanding regional weight, fueled by its financial might, hung large over the proceedings. Japan has realised that the vaccines can be a big selling point to the Pacific Island nations, given the Chinese vaccines are failing left and right, and this transaction can be used to make Taiwan a relevant power in the region again.
At about similar timespan, according to the Foreign Ministry, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga held separate phone conversations with the leaders of six Pacific island nations (Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu ) on Tuesday, urging them to join Japan’s efforts to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific area. Suga pledged Japan’s continuing cooperation in combating the COVID-19 epidemic to the six nations, while also promising a “safe and secure” Tokyo Olympics in less than a month, according to the ministry.
Read more: Japan is creating a Pacific Island nations’ alliance to take on China
According to the ministry, the Prime Minister also discussed Japan’s funding for infrastructure projects and renewable energy with the leaders of the six Pacific islands, asking for their support in Tokyo’s efforts to secure the return of Japanese people abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.
As reported by Asia Nikkei, “The Pacific region faces new challenges, like competing with authoritarianism,” Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said at the Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting, or PALM. In addition to Japan, the online event drew 16 countries, including Australia and New Zealand, and two regions. “The PALM leaders emphasized their renewed and strengthened commitment to the importance of free, open and sustainable maritime order based on the rule of law,” according to a joint statement from the summit.
According to the ministry, the Prime Minister also discussed Japan’s funding for infrastructure projects and renewable energy with the leaders of the six Pacific islands, asking for their support in Tokyo’s efforts to secure the return of Japanese people abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. “Pacific island nations tend not to have a strong political ideology, so they can be swayed by attractive offers of aid,” said Izumi Kobayashi, professor at Osaka Gakuin University and president of the Japan Pacific Islands Association. “They need assistance that keeps them close.”