Japanese minister tweets about Trump ‘dictatorship’, quickly deletes

‘Where has our role model for democracy gone,’ Kazuyoshi Akaba asks

Kazuyoshi Akaba, Japan’s Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism minister (AFP via Getty Images)

Japan’s land minister tweeted and then quickly deleted criticism of Donald Trump’s refusal to accept defeat in the US election.  

In a rare moment of frankness, Kazuyoshi Akaba alluded to a “dictatorship” in the US as Mr Trump continued to refuse to concede to Democratic rival Joe Biden. 

According to Kyodo News Agency, the cabinet minister tweeted on Monday: "A sitting president making accusations of election fraud and insisting he will 'never give up'.  

“Am I the only one seeing this and thinking, what kind of dictatorship is this? Where has our role model for democracy gone?”  

Mr Akaba quickly deleted the tweet, reportedly telling a press conference the following day he did so because he did not want to be “misinterpreted”.  

He said he initially wrote the tweet because he viewed the US as a “frontrunner of democracy”, according to Kyodo, and was “saddened” by the division the election had caused in the country.  

Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga was among the world leaders to congratulate president-elect Mr Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris on their win, after Mr Biden secured 290 electoral college votes in the presidential race.  

He tweeted: "Warm congratulations to @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. I look forward to working with you to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. Alliance and ensure peace, freedom and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond."  

Japan is currently arranging phone talks between Mr Suga and Mr Biden, which are expected to be held as early as Thursday, two government sources told Reuters.  

The country in East Asia is said to be hoping for greater co-operation from the US in climate change and other environmental issues under a Joe Biden presidency.  

The US formally exited the Paris Agreement last week, fulfilling Mr Trump's years-long promise to withdraw the country from the global pact to fight climate change.  

But Mr Biden has promised to rejoin the pact and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Additional reporting by agencies