Prime Minister Fumio Kishida practiced whirlwind diplomacy last week, visiting five countries in Europe and North America.
His meetings had three purposes: explaining the three new national security documents that were published at the end of December; securing support for the Group of Seven agenda that Japan will push as it chairs the group this year; and boosting his domestic approval ratings by taking a prominent role on the international stage. He succeeded on two of the three fronts.
The message of the three new national security documents — the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy and the Defense Buildup Program — is twofold. The world has entered a new, dangerous period that upends foundational assumptions about international relations. Interstate war is a reality and that danger is omnipresent.