Japan downplays Trump pick Tulsi Gabbard’s warnings of its military threat to US

Gabbard, who Trump has nominated as his director of national intelligence, warned against a ‘remilitarised Japan’ in a social media post

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Donald Trump alongside Tulsi Gabbard during a town hall meeting in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on August 29. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:20am, 21 Nov 2024

Japan’s Foreign Ministry is steering clear of a potentially damaging dispute with the incoming US administration over social media comments made by Tulsi Gabbard, US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, suggesting that Japan is a military threat to the US.

Since her nomination was announced last week, the Japanese media resurfaced the comments, which were made by Gabbard to mark the 79th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7 of last year.

“As we remember Japan’s aggression in the Pacific, we need to ask ourselves this question: is the remilitarisation of Japan, which is presently under way, truly a good idea? We need to be careful that short-sighted, self-serving leaders do not end up bringing us again face-to-face with a remilitarised Japan,” she wrote.

In a statement to This Week in Asia, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, “We would like to refrain from commenting on every statement made by Ms. Gabbard, who was a private citizen at the time [she made the comments].

“While we do not evaluate every foreign government appointment, we will continue to closely follow the composition of the incoming administration with great interest,” the statement added. “We aim to build a strong relationship of trust and cooperation with the incoming administration and elevate the Japan-US alliance to new heights.”

The Foreign Ministry’s muted response to Gabbard’s comments come amid worries about the future of US-Japan relations under Trump’s next administration, with analysts suggesting Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s political weakness could make the country vulnerable to Trump’s demands.

Born in Samoa, Gabbard was a member of the Democratic Party representing Hawaii in Congress before losing in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. She left the Democratic Party in 2022, citing differences on foreign policy and social issues, before joining the Republican Party in 2024.