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U.S. ELECTION: Japan's Political Elites Prefer a Bush Return
By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Oct 20 (IPS) - While eyebrows and heckles were raised when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi displayed unusually explicit support for President George W. Bush ahead of the November presidential election in the United States, observers indicate the premier's behaviour reflects the thinking of the country's political establishment.
This week Koizumi was the target of vigorous criticism by opposition politicians who
have taken him to task in the Diet for telling reporters last Friday after the last U.S.
presidential debate was over, ''I don't want to interfere, but I am close to Bush, so I would
like him to do well.''
Opposition parties reacted promptly, accusing Koizumi of taking sides in a foreign
election and interfering in another county's internal affairs.
Koizumi however has denied this. In his characteristic manner, he said in the Diet
Monday: '' I expressed a personal opinion that I would like Bush to do well. What's wrong
with that?''.
But to Glen Fukushima, former head of the American Chamber of Commerce and a
veteran observer of Japan-U.S. ties, Koizumi's comments on Bush were not unusual.
''Many in the Japanese establishment prefer the order, stability and exclusiveness
represented by (Bush's) Republicans compared to the diversity valued by the Democrats,''
he said. ''The ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has for decades felt more
comfortable dealing with Republicans than with Democrats.''
According to Fukushima both the LDP and the Republicans share a conservative social
and political agenda that embraces close ties with big business.
Harumi Arima, a political commentator in the Japanese media, sees Koizumi's support
for Bush as a means for the Japanese premier to shore up his political gains.
''Koizumi has been in office for three years and has nurtured a very close relationship
with Bush all that time. He does not want to lose this, and if a new president occupies the
White House he'll have to start all over again,'' said Arima.
''As tradition goes, Japanese leaders who have close support from the White House have
been in office for long periods. Koizumi is determined to stay on the top and the victory of
Bush in the presidential elections is thus crucial,'' the commentator told IPS.
Indeed, one of Japan's most influential and popular leaders, Yasuhiro Nakasone who
served his full five-year term as prime minister between 1982 to 1987 was also known for
his close ties with then U.S. Republican president Ronald Regan.
But Koizumi's expressions of support for a U.S. president seeking re-election is nothing
new in Japan.
In 1992, then prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa was roundly criticized when he described
TV commentator Pat Buchanan, then vying with incumbent George Bush for the Republican
presidential nomination, as a candidate who was unlikely to win at the national level.
''Koizumi's remarks stem from not only his close ties with President Bush, but also
shows the vital role Bush plays for the prime minister's expanding defense policy against a
backdrop of growing nationalism (in the country),'' explained Prof. Takashi Inoguchi, a
respected international relations expert at Tokyo University.
As domestic alarm rises over the potential threat posed by neighbours China and North
Korea, and Washington seeks allies to help shoulder the burden of its foreign policy, Japan
is coming under increasing pressure to play a more assertive role on the international
stage.
Its leaders have responded by instigating a wide-sweeping review of Japan's U.N. role,
its constitution, and its general security policy.
But any changes are controversial in a country that is still haunted by the atrocities it
wreaked during its wartime occupation of the region.
Japan's post-war constitution forever renounces war, and its soldiers have not fired a
shot in conflict since 1945.
In return for Bush's support for Japan's new foreign policy, Koizumi has let Washington
know that he is firmly behind the United States' occupation of Iraq. And this was clear
when he decided to send Japanese troops to the Middle Eastern country - Japan's first
military dispatch since the end of World War II.
''Starting all over again in the event of a victory for Democrat contender John F. Kerry,
would be too much for Koizumi who does not have liberal views,'' Tokyo University's
Inoguchi told IPS.
But the latest opinion polls in Japan, conducted by the 'Asahi Shimbun' newspaper
indicate at least 50 percent of Japanese would be happy to see Democrat challenger John
Kerry in the White House.
A major grudge among those polled is that Bush was wrong to attack Iraq and the
pressure on Japan to support him raised the possibility of the country returning to its
militaristic past.
''The Iraq war has also led many Japanese to dislike President Bush. Only 16 per cent in
the latest poll said 'the Iraq war was right'. More than four times as many, 71 per cent,
said 'the war was wrong','' wrote Hiroshi Hoshi, a columnist in the 'Asahi Shimbun'.
''While Japanese may accept Mr. Bush's stance criticising terrorism, they cannot support
a war in which many civilians have been killed,'' he said. (END/2004)
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