Diplomacy has stalled due to the worldwide spread of the new coronavirus.
Restrictions on the entry of foreign nationals in many countries have forced international conferences and bilateral negotiations to be postponed, which has begun to affect crucial diplomatic issues that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet is working on, such as negotiations on a peace treaty with Russia.
At least five international conferences from March are either postponed or likely to be postponed. They include the World Assembly for Women (WAW!) and the U.N. Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, both hosted by Japan, as well as the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons scheduled to be held at U.N. Headquarters in New York, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris.
The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, which Japan considers a good opportunity for summit diplomacy, have also been postponed.
Abe is trying to achieve a breakthrough on issues involving Russia and North Korea as part of an "inventory of postwar diplomacy." However, with less than 1-1/2 years left until his term as Liberal Democratic Party president expires at the end of September 2021, the spread of the virus is holding him back.
Japan and Russia were scheduled to hold vice foreign minister-level talks in February to discuss such issues as the peace treaty, including the northern territories, but whether these talks will be held has not been decided.
As for the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, Abe has pledged to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without preconditions. However, Pyongyang is not "in the mode of diplomacy," according to a senior Foreign Ministry official, as the country has shut its borders against the epidemic.
Japan's Foreign Ministry "is in a state of 'open but not doing business' but it is busy securing the safety of Japanese nationals [instead of engaging in diplomatic affairs]," according to a senior Foreign Ministry official. On Thursday, the ministry advised its officials to refrain from nonessential business trips overseas.
Teleconferencing is used for meetings that are difficult to postpone, but this method seems unsuitable for diplomacy as face-to-face negotiations are more effective.
A four-hour Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting was held Wednesday by video to discuss the new coronavirus, among other issues. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said he would make use of teleconferencing in the future, but a ministry official who attended the meeting said, "It was hard to see the reactions of their counterparts."
Teleconferencing "has a different sense of tension from face-to-face meetings," a ministry employee said. The Japanese side's connection was also cut for about 15 minutes before the meeting started.
On Thursday, the leaders of 20 major countries and regions held a videoconference, but failed to deepen discussions as each leader simply gave their opinion for about 5 minutes, "saying what they wanted to say," according to a senior government official.
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