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Is Japan's sun rising or setting?
While Europe and China seem complacent, America has reflected unease over Japan's election result
Simon Tisdall
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 September 2009 18.30 BST Article history
Is Japan's sun rising or setting?While Europe and China seem complacent, America has reflected unease over Japan's election result
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Simon Tisdall guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 September 2009 18.30 BST Article history
It's tempting to dismiss the weekend election landslide victory of Japan's opposition Democratic party (DPJ) as reflecting no more than a bad-tempered "throw the bums out" mood among recession-hit voters. European commentators transfixed by China's rise have jumped two-footed into this trap. They play down the result's wider significance for a country they view as a declining power while predicting that little will change in practice.
A slightly smug response is evident in Beijing, too. There is quiet satisfaction there at the decimation, after half a century in power, of the Liberal Democratic party of the nationalist former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, a hate figure for many Chinese. Pledges by the DPJ's incoming prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, to eschew visits to the Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo and pursue closer Asian co-operation are seen as tacit acknowledgement of Tokyo's past mistakes.
American reactions have been notably less complacent, reflecting real unease about where the DPJ's untested, vaguely anti-capitalist, anti-globalisation stance and its vow to forge a "more equal" relationship with the US may lead. The Obama administration said it was ready to work together "to further cement this indispensable alliance". But it quickly stressed Washington had "no intention" of re-opening negotiations on American bases and troop re-deployments in Japan, as urged by DPJ leaders.
Although Hatoyama backpedalled recently, saying the US-Japan alliance will "continue to be the cornerstone of Japanese diplomatic policy", the presence of 47,000 American military personnel, occupying 134 bases covering over 100,000 hectares of prime real estate, is one of several weak points in the edifice.
"The vast tracts of land set aside for US forces in Japan impede community development and have a major impact on the lives of our citizens," said Matsuzawa Shigefumi, governor of Kanagawa prefecture, abutting Tokyo. Crime and environmental damage associated with the bases were of especial concern, he said. The 1960 Status of Forces agreement between the two countries should be reviewed or, failing that, specific Japanese laws should be applicable to US bases and personnel.
Hatoyama says the new government will not renew the mandate for Japanese refuelling ships in the Indian Ocean, tasked with supporting US military activities in Afghanistan, when it expires in January. He also wants a US pledge not to bring nuclear-armed vessels or aircraft into Japanese ports and airports. At the same time, the prime minister-elect favours the establishment of an East Asian regional community, not dissimilar to early forms of the EU, with Japan and China (like France and Germany) at its heart.
Indeed, some have compared Hatoyama to Germany's former chancellor Gerhard Schröder's mould-breaking bid to loosen Washington's stifling postwar embrace. These unsettling ideas, plus his guiding political mantra of yuai (friendship and love), will add spice to his first meeting with Barack Obama around the G20 summit in Pittsburgh later this month.
Contradicting the suggestions that the wrinkles will be ironed out given time, rightwing American commentators sense a real threat to US interests. "Hatoyama dreams of an Asian union, a utopia free of rapacious American capitalism, a region bound together by fraternity and a common currency," wrote Tim Kelly in Forbes magazine. "He describes his country as being 'buffeted by the winds of market fundamentalism'." His dangerous vision was of Japan and China marching hand-in-hand as American economic and military power waned. Hatoyama, Kelly concluded, was living on "fantasy island".
Mary Kissel of the Wall Street Journal was scarcely less scathing. "Hatoyama is scoring populist points by talking about distancing Japan from [the US] alliance," she said. And his domestic policies were just as damaging. "He stands for agricultural protectionism, higher minimum wages, higher taxes in the name of environmental responsibility, and more [state] handouts … Hatoyama's Keynsian worship may spell another lost decade for the world's second-largest economy."
Veteran Asia commentator Philip Bowring is less alarmist; he rules out any significant change in Japan's foreign policies, the main reason being China. In this regard, he suggested, Hatoyama and the DPJ were behind the curve and faced a sharp reality check.
"In some [Asian] countries rising fears of China's goals are now cancelling out criticism of the US-led invasion of Iraq and the 'war on terror'. Worries about the impact of reduced US demand is offsetting resentment of Wall Street-style capitalism," Bowring said. In other words, Japan could become more dependent on Washington, not less.
"The [DPJ] assumes that Japan and China can share leadership of an East Asian community. But the prevailing view in China appears to be that 'there cannot be two suns in the sky'. For Beijing, the Japanese sun is setting as the Chinese one rises."
[World news > Japan]
Is Japan's sun rising or setting?
While Europe and China seem complacent, America has reflected unease over Japan's election result
Simon Tisdall
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 September 2009 18.30 BST Article history
Is Japan's sun rising or setting?While Europe and China seem complacent, America has reflected unease over Japan's election result
Comments (57)
Buzz up!
Digg it
Simon Tisdall guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 September 2009 18.30 BST Article history
It's tempting to dismiss the weekend election landslide victory of Japan's opposition Democratic party (DPJ) as reflecting no more than a bad-tempered "throw the bums out" mood among recession-hit voters. European commentators transfixed by China's rise have jumped two-footed into this trap. They play down the result's wider significance for a country they view as a declining power while predicting that little will change in practice.
A slightly smug response is evident in Beijing, too. There is quiet satisfaction there at the decimation, after half a century in power, of the Liberal Democratic party of the nationalist former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, a hate figure for many Chinese. Pledges by the DPJ's incoming prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, to eschew visits to the Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo and pursue closer Asian co-operation are seen as tacit acknowledgement of Tokyo's past mistakes.
American reactions have been notably less complacent, reflecting real unease about where the DPJ's untested, vaguely anti-capitalist, anti-globalisation stance and its vow to forge a "more equal" relationship with the US may lead. The Obama administration said it was ready to work together "to further cement this indispensable alliance". But it quickly stressed Washington had "no intention" of re-opening negotiations on American bases and troop re-deployments in Japan, as urged by DPJ leaders.
Although Hatoyama backpedalled recently, saying the US-Japan alliance will "continue to be the cornerstone of Japanese diplomatic policy", the presence of 47,000 American military personnel, occupying 134 bases covering over 100,000 hectares of prime real estate, is one of several weak points in the edifice.
"The vast tracts of land set aside for US forces in Japan impede community development and have a major impact on the lives of our citizens," said Matsuzawa Shigefumi, governor of Kanagawa prefecture, abutting Tokyo. Crime and environmental damage associated with the bases were of especial concern, he said. The 1960 Status of Forces agreement between the two countries should be reviewed or, failing that, specific Japanese laws should be applicable to US bases and personnel.
Hatoyama says the new government will not renew the mandate for Japanese refuelling ships in the Indian Ocean, tasked with supporting US military activities in Afghanistan, when it expires in January. He also wants a US pledge not to bring nuclear-armed vessels or aircraft into Japanese ports and airports. At the same time, the prime minister-elect favours the establishment of an East Asian regional community, not dissimilar to early forms of the EU, with Japan and China (like France and Germany) at its heart.
Indeed, some have compared Hatoyama to Germany's former chancellor Gerhard Schröder's mould-breaking bid to loosen Washington's stifling postwar embrace. These unsettling ideas, plus his guiding political mantra of yuai (friendship and love), will add spice to his first meeting with Barack Obama around the G20 summit in Pittsburgh later this month.
Contradicting the suggestions that the wrinkles will be ironed out given time, rightwing American commentators sense a real threat to US interests. "Hatoyama dreams of an Asian union, a utopia free of rapacious American capitalism, a region bound together by fraternity and a common currency," wrote Tim Kelly in Forbes magazine. "He describes his country as being 'buffeted by the winds of market fundamentalism'." His dangerous vision was of Japan and China marching hand-in-hand as American economic and military power waned. Hatoyama, Kelly concluded, was living on "fantasy island".
Mary Kissel of the Wall Street Journal was scarcely less scathing. "Hatoyama is scoring populist points by talking about distancing Japan from [the US] alliance," she said. And his domestic policies were just as damaging. "He stands for agricultural protectionism, higher minimum wages, higher taxes in the name of environmental responsibility, and more [state] handouts … Hatoyama's Keynsian worship may spell another lost decade for the world's second-largest economy."
Veteran Asia commentator Philip Bowring is less alarmist; he rules out any significant change in Japan's foreign policies, the main reason being China. In this regard, he suggested, Hatoyama and the DPJ were behind the curve and faced a sharp reality check.
"In some [Asian] countries rising fears of China's goals are now cancelling out criticism of the US-led invasion of Iraq and the 'war on terror'. Worries about the impact of reduced US demand is offsetting resentment of Wall Street-style capitalism," Bowring said. In other words, Japan could become more dependent on Washington, not less.
"The [DPJ] assumes that Japan and China can share leadership of an East Asian community. But the prevailing view in China appears to be that 'there cannot be two suns in the sky'. For Beijing, the Japanese sun is setting as the Chinese one rises."
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