Trump puts Japan’s Takaichi under pressure with call to send warships

https://www.ft.com/content/f21ad35f-bfd2-4c48-929e-3bfc7e5a2d14

15 Comments

  1. President Donald Trump’s call for Japan to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz puts huge pressure on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as she prepares to make her first visit to the White House on Thursday.

    Dennis Wilder, former top White House Asia adviser to President George W Bush, said the current situation was a “real world test” of Takaichi’s desire to have Japan take its place among the world’s military powers.

    “Prime Minister Koizumi made a bold move in 2004 when he sent Japanese Self Defense Force troops, at President George W Bush’s request, to serve in Iraq in reconstruction and humanitarian assistance,” he said. “In this case, however, the JSDF would have to be prepared for actual combat operations.”

    Korea does not have the same legal restrictions as Japan, but President Lee Jae Myung will still face pressure either way. Refusing a request from the guarantor of Korea’s security would be difficult, but participation in a US-led mission linked to the Iran conflict could provoke domestic opposition.

  2. 1 week ago he said he doesnt need UK to send anything, america will remember this refusal. Thry will only send after US has won the war.

    Now it’s a coalition he is looking for.

    Who will obey as the king commands.

  3. wellthatexplainsalot on

    Do I not remember him telling the UK not to bother sending ships, less than a week ago, because the war was won?

    Secondly, one of the reasons you go to the UN is to make sure that the ‘military excursion’ is legal. Why would others want to commit their countries to an illegal war? The only reasonable way this can be done is if it’s in defence, but Iran is the country under attack here, and you’d have to try to differentiate between their actions which were in defence of Iran, and which were aggressive. Difficult to do.

    The obvious answer for both countries is to send vessels which have mysterious issues making it unable for them to render help, especially as America is not willing to risk its own warships despite being willing to start a war.

    I foresee mechanical breakdowns which force them to return to base for repair, much to the despair of the crews and their command and politicians.

  4. UnimaginativeRA on

    She’d have to find some way around Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which basically prohibits war as a means to settle international disputes. It has been interpreted to allow force if an ally was attacked but I can’t imagine that’s going to go over well given that the US struck first. 

  5. RipTheJack3r on

    Sensationalist nonsense.

    She’s not under “huge” pressure.

    She can tell him to end his war and the strait will be opened again.

    The notion that everyone has to help Trump in this is so pathetic. The gall he has to now demand others help him as well.

  6. heytherehellogoodbye on

    really using up all our good will with all our allies on the dumbest shit.

    we’re gonna need them down the line…. and they’ll have long soured on us and the expenses we made them use for these ventures

  7. Seems like these countries should get nukes themselves so they no longer rely on the US.

  8. Yeah, don’t do that Japan, don’t get killed for Americans for a suicidal unplanned mission…

  9. Extract:

    “In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump said “many countries” would be sending warships to the region to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

    “Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat,” he wrote”

    I mean if these get involved militarily we are getting very close to the definition of world war.

  10. station_wlan0 on

    So he wants this to be a coalition war after having bullied and strong-armed the entire world (even his closest allies) for the past year?