I'm John Batchel. Japan, member of the G7, Japan, a strong partner with the United States in East Asia.

Japan, opposing the aggression of the People's Republic of China.

Japan in the world. But right now, Japan on an embassy with the new prime minister,

Takiichi Senai, to Vietnam and to Australia. To what end? Japan has long been understood as a powerhouse in Asia,

the four tigers once upon a time, now everybody's a tiger. But Grant Neusham, Colonel U.S.

Marine Corps retired many years in Asia and in Japan. Also, also the author most importantly of when China attacks,

Grant, a very good evening to you. Thank you. Before I listen very carefully to your interview most

recently, I was unaware that there was a warmth between the Japanese people and the Vietnamese people.

Why? How so? Good evening to you.

Good evening, John. Well, a good part of the reason there is that the Japanese, in large parts

of Vietnam or with Vietnamese people, get credit for having helped overthrow the colonial yoke,

get rid of the French, which is what the Japanese did.

And some Japanese soldiers actually stuck around and fought with the Vietnam, with the nationalists after the French came back. But also Japanese investment over the last 30, 40, 50 years in Vietnam has been immense. So the Japanese are

associated with jobs and factories and things like that. It's worth pointing out, of course,

that the very top of Vietnam's leadership are really corrupt, but they're also very closely

linked to the Chinese Communist Party and their top dogs.

So what the very top of Vietnam's leadership thinks and what the citizenry think is kind of different.

Vietnam has been presented to me over the years as a renovated culture with clean factory floors and a lot of business that used to go to China

now going to Vietnam. Is Japanese business going to Vietnam? Are they part of the investment

strategy? Well, very much, and this builds on top of already a lot of Japanese investment.

And the Japanese government, they see actually economics as related to national security. So we think of it generally

a separate commercial and then there's the hard military power. The Japanese look at these is all

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