Therefore, in order to protect individual citizens we believe there must be built-in correctives and counterweights to the power of the state, even a democratic state.
Mr Abe committed his country to joining the TPP on strategic grounds—as a counterweight to China—rather than because he is a born admirer of free trade.
For this to work, the counterweight would need to be far enough away that the centrifugal force generated by the Earth's spin is greater than the planet's gravitational pull.