Starting from the near-total lack of coverage of Japan’s fourth visit to India in September 2017, this chapter reveals how long-term leadership enables genuine diplomacy—and exposes the fatal shortcomings of Japan’s media.

The fourth visit to India starting on September 13, 2017 was also scarcely reported by the Japanese media.
2018-01-01
My Sweet Lord – George Harrison – Sub Castellano –
What follows is a continuation of the previous chapter.
All emphasis within the text other than headings, as well as the passages marked with ～, are mine.
Long-Term Governance Advances Diplomacy
Arimoto
It is a very good story, yet it was hardly reported at all by the Japanese media.
Even the fourth visit to India beginning on September 13, 2017 was barely covered by the Japanese media.
In Ahmedabad, the home region of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a city undergoing remarkable development, a welcoming parade stretching nine kilometers was held—the first such event ever organized for a foreign dignitary—and the Indian media covered it extensively.
Considering how increasingly important Japan–India relations will become, it is deeply regrettable that Japan’s response appears so cold compared with the enthusiasm shown by the Indian side.
Abe
During our visit to India, as many as 50,000 people welcomed my wife and me.
When I posted a video on Facebook showing the astonishing scenes of people lining the roads endlessly to greet us, many people watched it and commented, “Why isn’t this being reported on television?”
Arimoto
It truly is a strange situation.
However, isn’t it precisely because of long-term governance that such proactive and substantial diplomacy becomes possible, and that trust can be built with leaders of other countries?
Abe
I believe it is extremely significant.
If a government lasts only one year, the number of countries one can visit is limited, and even among major nations, one can meet each leader only once.
That results in nothing more than exchanging scripted remarks.
By contrast, I have already met President Vladimir Putin more than twenty times, and Chancellor Angela Merkel more than ten times.
The Japan–EU EPA was truly a project spanning five years, but by meeting repeatedly and negotiating face to face, we were able to work together and confirm each other’s positions.
Whether one can keep promises also becomes an issue.
In politics, unless one maintains political strength, it is impossible to fulfill promises.
The other side calmly observes whether we possess the political power to carry out what we say.
In particular, whether one wins elections is extremely important in the international community.
From such an entirely self-evident perspective, it is obvious how foolish the media—mistakenly believing that opposing power constitutes journalism—have been in repeatedly toppling governments, how gravely they have damaged national interests, and how they have diminished Japan. Needless to say, those who looked on with satisfaction at these actions were China and the Korean Peninsula.