Abe keen to put Japan center stage

In his New Year's speech, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe asserted that Japan will play the role of a global actor in 2016.

"This year will be one in which Japan will shine on the global stage and demonstrate its leadership," Abe said.

Japan will host a G7 summit this year, and Abe plans to visit the six other members of the group - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States - before the leaders put their heads together in May.

Japan wants to host a trilateral summit with China and Republic of Korea, and the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development is due to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, which will be the first time the Japan-led Africa development conference has been held in Africa.

Abe has already expanded Japan's diplomatic presence around the world through his initiative where by "diplomacy takes a panoramic view of the world map".

He has actively engaged in high-level diplomacy to foster Japan's relationships with countries and regions that have grown stagnant in recent years. In particular, Japan has intensified its diplomatic efforts with Australia, India, Europe, and Russia.

Abe has elevated Japan-Australia relations to a special strategic relationship and upgraded Japan's relations with India to a special strategic and global partnership.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Russia also top Abe's diplomatic agenda.

The Abe administration took a diplomatic gamble in May 2014 agreeing to lift its sanctions on the DPRK in exchange for Pyongyang's promise to re-investigate the where abouts of all Japanese residing in the country, including abductees. Japan specified a deadline of one year for the reinvestigation into Japanese abductees by DPRK to be completed, which started in July 2014. But the DPRK has so far failed to offer Japan a report.

Thus the DPRK's claim that it has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb poses a dilemma for Japan, as strong action against Pyongyang could kill the already stalled talks on the issue of abduction.

"We will lodge a protest together with the international community, but even so, we will ensure that the abduction issue will be not shelved. That's a difficult equation," Japan's daily newspaper Mainichi Shimbun quoted a government source as saying.

Even while closing ranks with the West and imposing sanctions against Russia, Abe has made better ties with Moscowa priority. Tokyo has had talks with Moscowon the long-standing territorial dispute between the two countries, and Abe plans to visit Russia in spring to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the hope of moving forward the dialogue.

Japan is keen to use the Abe-Putin meeting to drive home to the international community the message that it can play the role of mediator between Russia, the US and European nations. However, this will be a delicate balancing act for Japan between the US and Russia. Meanwhile, Japan's controversial security-related legislation, which passed into law in September, will come into force in March. The Japanese cabinet has approved a record high defense budget for the new fiscal year starting April 1.

Much of what Abe has already sought to do in his extensive travels abroad is to argue that "Japan is back" as a global player. It is to be hoped that Japan will play a constructive, peacemaking role.

The author is China Daily's Tokyo bureau chief. caihong@chinadaily.com.cn