Insight into the discussion: “Japan and the EU: Maintaining the Rules-Based Global Order”

On January 30, the Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA) and the Japanese Embassy in Latvia hosted Dr. Tosh Minohara from Kobe University for an enlightening discussion entitled “Japan and the EU: Maintaining the Rules-Based Global Order”. His Excellency Ambassador Yasushi Takase gave opening remarks about Japan’s commitment to the rules-based international order, after which Dr. Minohara presented his views on international security and took questions from the audience.

Dr. Minohara presented the view that internal political divisions and an aging president are quickening America’s decline as a great power. At the same time, China hopes to restore the power it once held in Asia and the world. In light of this, like-minded partners in Europe and Asia must increase military cooperation to uphold the rules-based order in the face of Chinese and Russian aggression. To do this, Dr. Minohara proposed that Japan greatly strengthen its military capabilities, provide robust military support for Ukraine, and fully integrate its forces with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) systems. He additionally recommended that Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan more formally join economic and military forces to counter China. Dr. Minohara’s opinion is that the West generally underestimated the ambitions of President of China Xi Jinpung to restore China as a superpower and the West identified the Senkaku Islands as well as Taiwan as President Xi Jinping's potential targets in the next decade.

Dr. Karlis Bukovskis offered closing remarks. He gave a slightly more optimistic view of America’s power, stating that soft power and economics will slow the decline more than Dr. Minohara believes. Dr. Bukovskis highlighted that Germany and Japan’s reticence to provide military support to Ukraine comes from the painful memory of World War II. He also mentioned that although the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, aspires to be like Peter the Great in his foreign policy, a better historical analogy is probably the troubled campaign of former Russian President, Leonid Brezhnev, in Afghanistan.