Japanese PM trying to shore up influence: analysts

Seeking support for Japan's bid for a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is scheduled to embark on a Latin American trip on Friday.

Abe's visit was seen by analysts as a move to counter China's influence following Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent tour to the region. Many warned that Japan's effort to "reform the UN Security Council" is a signal that the country is trying to expand its international influence in the post-war era after its recent controversial change of its pacifist constitution.

Abe is scheduled to return on August 4 after visiting Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, Kyodo News reported.

Abe will conduct trade pact discussions with Mexican and Chilean leaders as both countries are participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, and will meet Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to propose accelerating bilateral free trade talks.

In Brazil, Abe will meet President Dilma Rousseff to "confirm cooperation on reforming the UN Security Council," which currently has five permanent members, Kyodo News reported, adding that both Japan and Brazil seek permanent membership.

"Abe realized that developing a good relationship with developing countries was what made China one of the permanent members of the UN security council, so he is trying to take the same route," Geng Xin, director of JCC New Japan Research Institute, told the Global Times.

Abe's visit came roughly a month after his administration adopted a controversial resolution to reinterpret Japan's constitution, allowing the country to defend its allies when they are under armed attack. This was seen by many analysts as a defiant change of the post-WWII international order.

The so-called reform to the UN Security Council is another sign that Abe is trying to expand Japan's international influence in the post-war era. The country has enjoyed many years of peaceful development but has never psychologically accepted its defeat in World War II, Geng said.

"It is very obvious that Abe is competing with China in the areas of international image, international influence, economics and trade," Liu Jiangyong, deputy director of the Center of International Studies at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times.

"Since Chinese President Xi Jinping completed state visits to Latin American countries, which were [previously] regarded as the US's backyard, Japan wishes to go there as well, as a US ally, to say and do those things that the US would like to but can't. In this way, Japan could do both itself and US a favor," Geng noted.