OTTAWA — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has requested Canada to type nearer ties throughout a go to to Ottawa that specialists say comes at a time when the 2 international locations have important geopolitical alignment.

Kishida visited Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the primary time as Japan’s head of presidency, a part of a tour of different G7 international locations as Japan seeks methods to wean off fossil fuels from locations comparable to Russia.

Japan holds the G7 presidency this yr and is about to host conferences with the leaders of among the world’s richest international locations. The group contains Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, plus the European Union.

Tokyo plans to make use of the presidency to co-ordinate with different states on financial administration and to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Kishida arrived in Ottawa from London late Wednesday and was off to Washington, D.C., on Thursday afternoon.

“It completely is essential, even when it is a quick go to,” mentioned Ian Burney, who served as Canada’s ambassador in Tokyo from 2015 to 2021.

“There’s a near-perfect alignment between Japan’s need to diversify its sources of imports … and Canada’s need to diversify our export markets, which stays extraordinarily overly reliant on only one market to our rapid south,” mentioned Burney, who’s now an funding adviser.

Kishida’s is the primary go to to Canada by an Asian head of presidency since Ottawa launched its Indo-Pacific technique final November, which referred to as for nearer ties with international locations that may counterbalance Beijing’s affect.

A brand new Japanese defence technique unveiled final month included working with allies to keep off threats from North Korea and China, and made it authorized for Japan to conduct army strikes in opposition to enemy bases. Tokyo is boosting its army spending by 26 per cent in only one yr.

“We agreed that we’d strongly oppose unilateral makes an attempt (by China) to vary the established order by drive,” Kishida mentioned of his dialogue with Trudeau, by way of an interpreter.

In the meantime, a regional commerce deal launched in 2018 has helped each international locations increase commerce to one another’s markets. Beneath the Complete and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, Canada has elevated exports of pork and oil to Japan and introduced in additional Japanese equipment and auto elements. 

“Commerce is booming between our two international locations,” Trudeau mentioned at a Thursday lunch he hosted for Kishida and company executives.

“We share a imaginative and prescient for peace and prosperity on each side of the Pacific.”

College of British Columbia political scientist Yves Tiberghien mentioned Canada gained “first-mover benefit” by inking the commerce take care of Japan, which the US nonetheless hasn’t performed.

He famous Kishida’s go to comes simply months after Japan and Canada each singled out China as a risk to stability within the area.

Kishida instructed Thursday’s lunch company that liquefied pure fuel will play a “essential function” in Japan’s vitality transition and that Canada’s looming LNG export terminal is one instance of the methods Ottawa might help.

“On science, expertise and innovation, (digital transformation) and startups, I’m very eager to additional strengthen co-operation between business, authorities and academia in each international locations,” Kishida mentioned by way of an English interpreter.

“Nuclear energy will even play a key function and we stay up for working collectively to make the nuclear provide chain extra resilient.”

But Trudeau and Kishida didn’t decide to any additional LNG tasks, comparable to a proposed Part 2 growth of the looming terminal at Kitimat, B.C. 

“We’ll proceed to search for methods to be that dependable provider of vitality,” Trudeau mentioned.

“At the same time as we do speak about issues like LNG and different conventional sources of vitality, we all know the world is transferring aggressively and meaningfully in the direction of decarbonizing, in the direction of diversifying, in the direction of extra renewables,” he added.

Burney mentioned world competitors makes it important for Canada to satisfy the 2025 timeline to export LNG.

“It was an space of some frustration for me as a result of we have been speaking about changing into a significant vitality provider to Japan for many years and for many of that point, it was simply that — speak,” he mentioned.

“Frankly, all eyes are on that venture. It’s, to my thoughts, essential that that be accomplished on schedule.”

He famous Canada’s first main vitality exports to Japan began in 2019 by way of a propane-export facility that rapidly made up a large chunk of Japan’s provide.

Tiberghien mentioned the 2 international locations additionally see eye-to-eye on a shift towards inexperienced expertise, digital innovation and synthetic intelligence, all of the whereas decoupling from China.

“There’s large curiosity at doing extra with Canada on defence, financial safety, inexperienced expertise, synthetic intelligence, lithium, LNG, batteries — you title it,” he mentioned.

There was a current uptick in visits by Liberal ministers to Tokyo and Trudeau mentioned a commerce delegation will head to Japan within the coming yr. He additionally mentioned Japanese corporations interested by mining and electric-vehicle battery parts purpose to go to Canada within the spring.

Burney mentioned the Indo-Pacific technique hit the fitting tone, however should have included new alternatives for Canadian youth to do exchanges in Japan, just like the Japan’s large program for English academics. 

“Few issues matter extra in Japan than private relationships,” he mentioned. “They usually open doorways to different alternatives.”

Each specialists mentioned the international locations share so many values and so few irritants that they take one another as a right, focusing extra on Washington or Europe.

Half of the present convergence stems from a relative abatement of hostility between Japan and South Korea in comparison with current many years.

The reminiscence of Japan’s colonization of Korea and human-rights breaches it dedicated earlier than and in the course of the Second World Warfare flares up when Japanese politicians go to nationalist historic websites, or when Korean leaders deliver up compelled labour and sexual exploitation.

“Canada might have an fascinating, particular relationship with each on the identical time and perhaps play an exterior function in lessening any rigidity between them,” Tiberghien mentioned.

He mentioned Japan and Korea put an emphasis on anniversaries, and 2023 provides a pretext for Ottawa to carry occasions that commemorate 95 years of diplomatic relations with Japan and 60 years of the identical with South Korea. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Jan. 12, 2023.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press