How to understand stage in "represented Japanese business on the world stage during the 1970s and 1980s."

Question

I'm reading a book named Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology.

When I reading below paragraph：

Akio Morita : Cofounder of Sony; coauthor of The Japan That Can Say No ; represented Japanese business on the world stage during the 1970s and 1980s.

I can't understand meaning of 'stage', so I found the meaning of 'stage' at Cambridge Dictionary.

I feel it seems OK that interpret 'stage' as 'a particular area of public life' or 'to arrange and perform a play or show'.

My question: should 'stage' be used as a verb or a noun? What is meaning of 'stage' at here？ What should 'stage' be translated as?

Answer 1

On the world stage is a common expression meaning in international diplomacy or more generally in various areas of obvious international importance (whether trade deals, international investment, high culture, pop culture, sport, etc). It derives from the sense of stage as "a center of attention or scene of action", which in turn comes from a stage as a raised platform used for drama (and possibly other things like speeches, concerts, etc). Hence the world stage is the area where things happen of international importance that affect the world.

It's used in the titles of lots of books, articles, presentations, conferences, etc, relationg to international relations, international history, etc, such as Australia on the World Stage: History, Politics, and International Relations (Routledge, 2022), International Politics on the World Stage, The rise of China on the world stage, etc.

In the sense of the article, it means he promoted the interests of Japanese business around the world, represented Japanese business globally in trade negotiations, promoted Japan and its businesses around the world, or something of that nature.

Stage is a noun, as already stated, meaning a place where important things happen.