Tokyo must stop flattering its uncaring master

Reportedly, US President Joe Biden is mulling over whether or not to block Japanese Nippon Steel's $14 billion bid to purchase the US Steel on the grounds of national security concerns.

US Steel, founded in 1901, supported the country's industrialization by supplying valuable steel. It even provided steel to the US Navy during World War II.

As early as December 2023, when Nippon Steel announced it would purchase US Steel, and this April, when US Steel's shareholders approved the purchase, there were voices saying it was symptomatic of the US' decline.

Some joked that life had come full circle for the steel company that built ships to defeat Japan during WWII, as the defeated country was now trying to buy it.

By losing the 2016 and 2024 US presidential elections, Democrats have been taught a lesson, never to underestimate the power of the so-called Rust Belt states.

The Biden administration may not agree with US president-elect Donald Trump's "America First" policy, but letting Japan buy US Steel could haunt them for a long time to come.

That's probably why Nippon Steel issued a statement saying, "It is inappropriate that politics continue to outweigh true national security interests".

So far so good, but saying the transaction will bolster American economic and national security by countering the threats posed by China was an effort to shift attention to China, thus letting politics decide the outcome — just what they claimed to be against.

Their stating, "especially with the indispensable alliance between the US and Japan as the important foundation", shows how Nippon Steel and a number of influential political and economic figures in Japan are subservient enough to treat some US politicians in Washington as their masters.

It's time they gave up this mentality as the master is not bothered about its servant's interests.