Diplomacy, the art of persuasion: Online Classes at Ritsumeikan University

Bruce Miller AO, former Ambassador of Australia to Japan, spoke to students at the College of Liberal Arts about his career and role of Australia and Japan in the world

Bruce Miller AO has had a long diplomatic career dating back to the 1980s, when he was working in the Australian Embassy in Tehran. However, his interest in Japan was well established from a young age, leading him to work at the embassy in Tokyo 2004-2009 before returning as Ambassador of Australia to Japan 2011-2017. Reflecting on his diplomatic career, the Ambassador spoke online to students at the College of Global Liberal Arts (GLA) on November 9. In the first half of the 90-minute talk, he shared his thoughts on good diplomacy, citing examples from his experience, and in the second half he gave his impressions on how nations like Australia and Japan should work with world powers, namely the United States and China. The talk was attended by 40 people, and the two halves were ended with ten minutes of questions. Among them was Ritsumeikan University President Yoshio Nakatani, who made the closing comments including giving congratulations to Ambassador Miller for being award the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star from the Japanese government for his work at strengthening the relationship between Japan and Australia. GLA undergraduate students Thomas King Tong Leung and Clara Nauli Manurung were the moderators.

The Ambassador spoke from his home in Canberra and showed no slides, reflecting the new style of lectures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has created many challenges for many industries, and education is no exception. Globally, students have had to adapt to a new learning system where they are at home watching lessons online. While this kept all 40 people in separate rooms and in some cases even separate countries, the Zoom lecture also shows how Ritsumeikan is adapting, giving its students access to leaders and experts who normally would be unable to travel to Kyoto.

The Ambassador began with a summary of diplomacy. The goal of diplomacy, he explained, is to sustain a nation’s sovereignty and prosperity, but to do so in a constant environment of uncertainty. He emphasized that the most significant events cannot be predicted, noting how during his diplomatic career the dissolution of the USSR, 9/11, and even the election of Donald Trump were all unforeseen or unexpected. The coronavirus pandemic is only the latest example. All these events created rapid change worldwide. Trends can be observed, but events cannot be predicted, and these disruptions constantly challenge the sustainment of sovereignty and prosperity, he said.

He also commented on what he considers keys to successful diplomacy. For someone working at an embassy, knowing the language is a given and understanding how decisions are made in the foreign country are too. However, these skills go to waste if the one does not know how to influence the decision-making. In other words, persuasion is paramount. And for this, he added, one must have the ability to listen. Ears matter much more than the mouth.

When asked of his greatest challenges in his civil servant career, Miller recalled arriving as the Ambassadorship to Japan. It was August 2011, less than half a year after Japan had experienced its greatest trauma since World War II. Along with the people of Japan, most of his staff at the Australian Embassy had experienced the events of March 11, when an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster devasted the northeast in the matter of hours. While his response was not a direct example of diplomacy, the ability to listen and empathize was crucial for gaining the trust of his colleagues and partners.

Since most of the listeners were undergraduate students, he gave advice on how to start one’s career early. One observation, he said, was to go abroad and not only look for differences in cultures, but also similarities. It is these similarities that will show how one can work together.

With this, Mr Miller turned his attention to current affairs, with consideration of how the US and China will exercise their power and how other nations respond in turn through statecraft, including diplomacy. Speaking just days after Joe Biden was announced the winner of the US elections for president, Miller remarked that while the transition in style and in character from Obama to Trump and now Biden might seem extreme, he believes that much of the substance of US policy did and will not change over the period of these three presidents. For example, he noted that both Obama and Trump were reluctant to engage in overseas military interventions, and Trump and likely Biden define the US-China relationship as one of strategic competition, not collaboration. Yes, there may be more effective alliance management under Biden and more interest in climate change, but all those actions will be taken with a careful calculation of US interests, which dictate a posture of strategic completion.

As for China, it exercises diplomacy with extraordinary confidence in its ideology and strategy, and in the last seven years has used its military and economic influence to pressure countries. Like the US under Trump, China has shown a pugilistic diplomacy, which Mr Miller believed could be something of a lost opportunity for China, because had the country used more effective soft power, it could have juxtaposed itself with the US on the global stage.

Most importantly, he ended, we are seeing the end of the unilateral US dominance that emerged after the cold war. China and the US will share the mantle of world powers, but many other countries, such as Russia, India, and Indonesia along with Japan and Australia will retain strong influence in East Asian affairs.

The advent of the Biden Administration will encourage more multilateral cooperation from countries when seeking solutions for international challenges. Referring to the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Miller noted that before Trump, we might have expected stronger US leadership through the G20 and the WHO coordinating the public health and economic response. Instead, most countries are working independently from one another. US actions under President Trump and more assertive Chinese behaviour have pushed countries like Japan and Australia to take more of lead, as they have with the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), which includes neither China or the US.

Whatever happens, he is convinced that for the near future anyway, no one country will dominate as we have seen in years past.