Giving Chinese President Xi Jinping the red carpet treatment in Tokyo could have been risky for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Nikkei Montage/Ken Kobayashi/Karina Nooka/Reuters/EPA/Jiji)

How Xi Jinping almost spoiled the Tokyo Olympics

Japan would have given red carpet treatment despite Hong Kong law

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer

July 23, 2020 04:14 JST

TOKYO -- Japan is waking up to a daunting reality.

If there had been no COVID-19, the Tokyo Olympics would be opening tomorrow with much fanfare. But this altered reality might have put Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a difficult position, under international criticism for condoning China's national security law for Hong Kong.