Japanese Prime Minister Suga Congratulates Biden on Twitter... No Use of 'Elected' Expression

No Use of "Elected" Expression
Tradition of Prime Minister's Congratulations at the Moment of Opponent's Defeat Acknowledgment

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga sent congratulatory messages on Twitter on the 8th after local media reported that Democratic candidate Joe Biden won the U.S. presidential election.

At around 6:27 a.m. that day, Prime Minister Suga posted on Twitter in both Japanese and English, saying, "I sincerely congratulate Mr. Joe Biden and Ms. Kamala Harris." He added, "I look forward to strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance further and cooperating to secure peace, freedom, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and the world."

However, Prime Minister Suga did not use expressions such as "election victory," which could be seen as the motive for conveying congratulations in this message. It appears that Suga’s somewhat ambiguous wording in congratulating candidate Biden was due to the expectation that the confirmation of victory would be delayed as President Donald Trump expressed his intention to contest the vote count results.

Japan has traditionally sent congratulatory messages from the Prime Minister to the winner at the point when the opposing candidate concedes after the U.S. presidential election. In the previous U.S. election in 2016, then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued a congratulatory statement just 30 minutes after candidate Trump, who ran against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, declared victory. Abe then made a phone call on November 10, two days after the election day, and flew directly to the U.S. to meet President-elect Trump on November 17.

Japan also expressed congratulations on behalf of the Prime Minister after observing the concession and victory declarations in the 2004 election when Republican candidate George W. Bush defeated Democratic candidate John Kerry, as well as in the 2008 and 2012 elections when Democratic candidate Barack Obama won consecutively.

However, in the 2000 election where George W. Bush and Democratic candidate Al Gore faced off, Gore contested the vote count results in Florida, leading to a legal battle that delayed the congratulatory message. At that time, the Japanese government issued a statement from Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on December 14, after Gore lost the court battle and conceded the election, congratulating President-elect Bush.

The Japanese government is expected to delay the official congratulatory message from Prime Minister Suga until after candidate Biden officially declares victory this time as well.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.