Beijing Winter Olympics: human rights resolution shows Japanese PM Fumio Kishida is ‘boxed in’ by China dilemma

As part of the LDP’s moderate Kochikai faction, Kishida is disposed towards engaging Beijing. But with an election looming he must keep conservatives on side

While the serving prime minister walks a tightrope between China and the US, forces linked to his predecessors Suga and Abe threaten to upset the balancing act

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A Japanese House of Representatives plenary session in Tokyo that adopted a rare resolution expressing concern over the human rights situations in China’s Xinjiang region and Hong Kong. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 5:45pm, 3 Feb 2022

The resolution on human rights adopted in Japan’s parliament, the Diet, this week is a “symbolic” move, according to analysts, as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attempts a multifaceted balancing act.

Not only must Kishida balance the fractious factions within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, he must take care not to offend China too deeply while at the same time reassuring the United States that Japan is a reliable partner.

That is a lot of political balls for Kishida to juggle, and dropping just one risks derailing an administration that is only a few months old.

Adopted just days before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, the resolution studiously avoided mentioning any nation by name, but expressed concern about the “serious human rights situation” in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. It was almost certainly a compromise between the hawkish wing of the party that would have wanted China’s name attached to the declaration and the demands of centrists and the allied Komeito party, which has long championed closer ties with Beijing.

“Kishida is in a difficult position,” said Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor of politics and international relations at Tokyo’s Waseda University.

“There are many in the centre of the party and in Komeito who want to have a better working relationship with China and it is widely believed that is Kishida’s own position as well, but the conservative wing of the party is very strong,” he said.

Kishida could not “afford to upset either side”, he said, as the LDP needed the support of Komeito going into elections for the Upper House of the Diet in July but antagonising the conservative factions could see that support withdrawn, potentially a fatal blow to his administration.