SAN FRANCISCO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio, plagued by slumping public support rates for his cabinet, highlighted the diplomatic achievements he made during his visit to San Francisco to attend a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum through Friday.

Showing off his contribution to the discussions at the APEC summit, the prime minister expressed his eagerness to continue “Kishida diplomacy.”

As the foundation of the Kishida administration has been shaken by policy unpopularity and scandals involving senior government officials, he is expected to keep facing tough times, including during parliamentary deliberations on a supplementary government budget from Monday.

“I claimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would undermine sustainable development, and this was included in the chair’s statement,” Kishida said at a press conference in San Francisco on Friday after the summit.

The prime minister also said that he underlined the need to ensure a fair investment environment and improve the environment for using artificial intelligence, and that these ideas were reflected in an APEC-related document.

Referring to his diplomatic schedule later this year, Kishida said, “I will continue to pursue active summit diplomacy and lead the international community toward cooperation.”

Kishida also highlighted his close relations with US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

In the fourth meeting between Kishida and Biden this year that was held on Thursday on the sidelines of the APEC summit, the two leaders affirmed their countries’ close cooperation in dealing with China’s military coercion and improving the situations in the Middle East and in Ukraine.

Kishida was invited by Biden to make an official visit to the United States early next year. As Washington plans to treat Kishida as a state guest, a diplomatic source said, “Biden has a favorable impression of the prime minister.”

The prime minister also held his seventh meeting with Yoon in about eight months since March, when they agreed to normalize the soured relations of their countries.

“This is a new record,” Kishida said of the meetings with Yoon in his speech at an event at Stanford University in California on Friday, which was also attended by the South Korean president.

“One thing we have in common is that we both enjoy good food and drinking,” Kishida added.

The prime minister emphasized the results of his visit to the United States because he is facing a mountain of problems on the domestic front.

Although he proposed income and residential tax cuts in a bid to recover his cabinet’s public support rates that have fallen to the lowest levels since the launch of his administration in October 2021, the proposal has been unpopular among the public.

His administration has also faced a series of scandals involving politically appointed senior government officials. Opposition parties are expected to grill the government over the tax cut program and the scandals during parliamentary discussions on the extra government budget proposal aimed at financing a fresh economic package.

Kishida is losing his centripetal force also in the wake of defeats of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party in recent local elections.

In a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, Kishida failed to narrow differences over the release into the sea of tritium-containing treated water from the disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.

Kishida demanded the immediate lifting of a blanket ban on imports of Japanese fishery products that was imposed by China in protest to the water release. Xi, however, still described the treated water as “nuclear contaminated.”

While reaching an agreement to seek a solution to the issue through dialogue, Kishida said at the San Francisco press conference that he cannot say when the import ban would be lifted.

Kishida was also unable to realize the early release of a Japanese national who was detained by Chinese authorities on suspicion of espionage.

The prime minister is set to attend the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, to be held in the United Arab Emirates from late this month and a special summit between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to be held in Tokyo in mid-December.

However, an LDP executive said, “Public support rates would not rise so much through diplomacy.”

“We have no choice but to work steadily on the tasks we are facing,” an official who once held a ministerial post said.

JIJI Press