Thailand’s pot cuisine

“common prosperity” has left many in Tokyo worried about the future of Chinese growth. “The Chinese are coming to us and encouraging us to invest more, they are saying don’t miss the boat,” says an adviser to a major Japanese bank. “But when the Chinese say this, it means they have a problem.” China’s support for overseas infrastructure projects through its signature Belt and Road Initiative has dropped dramatically in recent years—a sign the Chinese economy faces “serious problems” at home, argues Maeda Tadashi, governor of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the stateowned overseas developmentfinance body.

A slowdown in China would have drastic implications for Japan’s own economy: China sucks in 22% of its exports, more than any other country. Japanese Chinawatchers fear it may also push Mr Xi to divert attention from a faltering economy by stirring up nationalist passions with adventurism around Taiwan or the Senkaku/ Diaoyu Islands. Still, many Japanese scholars remain more sceptical than those in America that war over Taiwan is imminent, says Aoyama Rumi of Waseda University in Tokyo.Japanese experts assume Mr Xi will not endanger his own power by launching a risky allout invasion of Taiwan’s main island any time soon.

As elsewhere, military and security types tend to be more worried than political analysts about Mr Xi’s possible willingness to use force to take Taiwan. Yet even they tend to be more equivocal than their American counterparts. “The timeframe could range significantly,” says General Yoshida Yoshihide, chief of staff of Japan’s ground forces. “It’s difficult to say something definite, like ‘within six years’,” as one American admiral suggested to Congress in 2021. Japanese observers worry more about “grey zone” activities that fall short of a fullon invasion, from cyberattacks to incursions into Taiwan’s waters by the Chinese coast guard or a landgrab of Taiwan’s outlying islands.

Those worries have fuelled a shift in Japan’s own China policy. Before the pandemic, Japan and China had been enjoying a period of relative bonhomie. Abe Shinzo, Japan’s prime minister at the time, sought to stabilise relations after the Senkaku/ Diaoyu clashes, and invited Mr Xi for a state visit in April 2020. Covid19 halted those plans. Kishida Fumio, Japan’s new prime minister, has tried to tread carefully, but has nonetheless taken several hawkish early steps. His cabinet includes a new minister for “economic security”, charged in part with lessening reliance on China for critical supplies. He also appointed Nakatani Gen, a former defence minister known as a China hawk, as a humanrights tsar, with an eye towards taking a tougher stance on Chinese abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. A stimulus package passed in November included an unusual ¥774bn ($6.8bn) earmarked for additional defence spending to accelerate purchases of new missiles and aircraft.

In 2022 Japan and China will mark the 50th anniversary of the normalisation of postwar relations. There is little appetite for celebrations. In 2021 some 71% of Japanese said China posed a “threat”, up from 63% in 2020.Likewise, 66% of Chinese had negative views of Japan, up from 53%.

The two militaries agreed this week to improve their communications channels—a welcome step, but also a sign of how worrying tensions have become. Mr Kishida has demurred at a visit by Mr Xi, while stopping short of officially rescinding the invitation. He also decided that Japan will not send any cabinet ministers to the Beijing Olympics in February, only a handful of sporting officials. Japan will not call the move a “diplomatic boycott”, as America and other allies have. But no one in China will mistake the slimmeddown delegation for the tributary missions of yore. The next phase of Japan’s and China’s long history is likely to be turbulent. n

Cooking with cannabis Pot cuisine

P RACHINBURI thc is the new msg

Ban lao rueng does not resemble a den of iniquity. A twohour drive restaurant in the country to serve cannabisinfused dishes. At least a dozen more from Bangkok, the Thai capital, the restaurant caters to families and old folk. Gauzy curtains frame the windows and doilies decorate bags of cookies on sale at the counter. The menu features such classics as tom yum soup and khanom pang na moo (crispy pork toast). Yet a closer look reveals the presence of an illicit ingredient: cannabis.

Illicit, that is, until recently. For decades Thailand, like many other Asian countries, harshly punished anyone caught with the demon weed. But the government has turned over a new leaf. In 2019 the country became the first in Asia to legalise pot for medical purposes. A year later the government announced that parts of the plant containing less than 0.2% thc, the psychoactive compound in cannabis, could legally be used in cosmetics and food. In November last year Ban Lao Rueng became the first have since sprung up. What accounts for the reversal? There is growing awareness in government that Thailand’s punitive drugcontrol regime is ineffective. Relaxing cannabis laws was also politically expedient. In order to make up the numbers to form a coalition, Thailand’s ruling party needed the support of Anutin Charnvirakul, the leader of a small party that campaigned to have the green stuff partially decriminalised. He was appointed deputy prime minister and health minister, and allowed to keep his promise. There is a long tradition in Thailand of cooking with cannabis. Thais began mixing the plant, which is native to Asia, into herbal remedies and then food centuries ago. Even after it was criminalised in 1934, many Thais carried on cooking with it. Chakree Lapboonruang, a 30something Bangkokian, says his father regularly tossed cannabis leaves into the pad gaprao (basil chicken stirfry) he cooked for the family. “When you have something tasty, [cannabis] makes it better,” Mr Chakree says. “It’s just like msg, except it’s natural.” Foodanddrink companies are seeing green. In April Ichitan, Thailand’s biggest teamaker, launched two drinks infused with terpene, a compound responsible for cannabis’s pong. The Pizza Company, a Thai fastfood chain, recently introduced “Crazy Happy Pizza”; its toppings include one deepfried cannabis leaf. Weed is good for business, says Mr Chakree, an owner of Kiew Kai Ka, a trendy restaurant in Bangkok. There is not enough thc in the food to make people high. Yet when customers eat dishes from his restaurant’s cannabis menu, he laughs, they “get hungrier”.