Former Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki has shown concern that China may expand its influence over developing countries if U.S. President Donald Trump's foreign aid cuts leads to a decrease in Washington's assistance to the Global South.
In such a situation, "Japan and European countries will face the need to respond either by encouraging the United States to restart its aid or by shouldering the burden of assistance to some extent," Fujisaki said in a recent interview.
After taking office in January, Trump signed an executive order stipulating that the United States would not spend on foreign assistance programs that are not consistent with the president's diplomatic policy.
The U.S. State Department announced a temporary suspension of foreign aid through the department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The United States is the world's leading provider of foreign aid, contributing huge funds to developing countries to help them implement measures against global warming and other issues.
"It can be problematic if the support that has been made to prevent the gap between developed and developing countries from expanding stagnates," Fujisaki said.
Although China is facing an economic slowdown and is seen as having little capacity for foreign support, Fujisaki expressed concern about future developments as China has strengthened its international influence through loans and investments in the Global South.
In the interview, Fujisaki also discussed Trump's diplomatic style of advocating for tariff hikes and pressuring other countries to make concessions.
"Overturning a system that took 80 years to build since the end of the war should not happen," he said, noting the history of the World Trade Organization and others promoting free trade, which has also been beneficial for Japan.
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