| President Donald Trump,who pursues an “America First” policy,withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement(TPP)and left Japan in a strategic predicament,for Japan had been confronting China's The Belt and Road Initiative(B&R)with TPP.This article studies B&R and TPP under Japanese news frame.In the first half of 2017,there were both pros and cons of B&R and TPP in the mainstream newspaper of Japan.The public opinions for B&R tended to be more positive while those for TPP tended to be more negative,although there were still voices which supported TPP.Media is a mirror reflecting politics and public opinions.The changes in news stories were related with Japanese government and public opinions.This article,starting from the view point of journalism,utilized some of the theories from international politics to explain the phenomenon.Before the US quit,Japan had been actively following the US to join TPP and to ice B&R,with the hope to consolidate the US-Japan Alliance and to restrict China.This act can be explained by the balance of threat theory and the balance of interests theory.Japan was using the US-Japan Alliance to confront the threat of China and also intended to become a major political power.After the US quit,Japan showed its hesitation between B&R and TPP,which can be explained by the Security Dilemma theory.After feeling the fear of being abandoned by the US,Japan showed its anxiety in its policy and media.What's more,this thesis also studies the phenomenon from Japanese national character.The minute the US had quit from TPP,some of the local governments showed their relief.When the US show its determination to gain interest from bilateral trade agreement with Japan,Japan chose to utilized TPP as its tool to bargain and the Japanese media spoke highly of this.Instead of persisting in confronting China's B&R,more and more Japanese show their interest in B&R in 2017.Those can all be explained by Japanese character of utilitarianism. |
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