JAPAN-US: Security, Economics Top Agenda of Bush’s Visit

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Feb 14 2002 (IPS) - Economics and security in East Asia top the agenda of U.S. President George W Bush’s two-day visit to Japan, the first stop on his Asian swing next week.

Analysts point out the Feb. 18-19 visit, the first by Bush since he took office in January last year, comes against a backdrop of firmer U.S.-Japan ties after Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi threw his support for the U.S.-led anti-terrorist war in Afghanistan.

Koizumi spearheaded a set of new laws in the Japanese Parliament soon after the terror attacks of Sep. 11, in a bid to pave the way for active participation for Japan in the Afghan war, which has gone down well in the United States.

Japan dispatched ships from its Maritime Self-Defence Force (SDF) to the Indian Ocean to support the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan — the first overseas dispatch of those forces under the new anti-terrorist law passed by Tokyo in November.

“The Japanese consider that Bush’s pro-Japan policy has been further strengthened after the Afghan war. The decision to visit Japan first in his much-awaited East Asian tour is also seen as a symbol of the American friendliness towards Japan,” comments Norhiro Sasaki, an East Asian watcher at the Institute of Developing Economies here.

Sasaki says this is in contrast to former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s decision to visit China in 1998 — and not stop over in Japan, a decision that Tokyo still remembers.

Bush will also visit South Korea and China after his stop in Japan next week.

During his stay in Japan, Bush is scheduled to discuss Koizumi’s reforms to combat Japan’s economic recession, peace and recovery measures in Afghanistan and security issues between the two allies, whose security ties are often considered the pillar of Asian security.

Koizumi is currently scrambling to put out an anti-deflation policy outlining several measures to tide deflation, such as a new injection of public funds to banks and steps to control the fall in prices.

The ‘Yomiuri’ newspaper reported Thursday that Bush would back this policy and urge Koizumi to continue his restructuring plans, since Japanese recovery is seen to aid Asia and help curb the global economic downturn exacerbated by the slowdown of the U.S. economy.

Washington has described Japan’s economic recession as “dragging the world economy”, but analysts say Bush has been cautioned by his experts not to be too tough on Koizumi in order to promote close bilateral ties.

“The Japanese know they must work on their economy. Bush will be careful not to say too much,” says Marshall Gittler, a strategist at Bank of America.

Among his various appointments, Bush is also scheduled to address the Japanese Diet or parliament, meet the Japanese emperor, and also visit a Tokyo Shinto Shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji, who spearheaded Japan’s modernisation.

The Japanese media reports that the leaders of the world’s two largest economies will also pledge cooperation to fight terrorism and expand the role of their security alliance.

Japan and the United States share a tight security umbrella under a treaty first signed in 1951, years after the defeat of Japan in World War II by the Allied forces.

The Japan-U.S. Security Treaty forms the foundation of Japan’s foreign policy, and Tokyo’s traditional post-war diplomacy has since put priority on building ties with Washington.

The Bush-Koizumi talks will likely discuss how to expand the role of the US-Japan alliance, the ‘Sankei Shimbun’ newspaper also reports.

The talks are expected to be forward-looking on Japan’s exercise of the right of collective self-defense in the future, which the government currently interprets as being prohibited under the Constitution.

Since the passage of the new anti-terrorism legislation, there is a growing call among politicians to expand the role of Japan’s SDF as against the Constitution that opposes military dispatches abroad.

Security issues on the agenda will also include the issue of North Korea, which Bush this month identified as being one among three countries in an “axis of terror” – comments that drew flak for its unilateralism and war talk.

Bush supports a close liaison between Japan, South Korea and the United States in dealing with North Korea, but has received criticism for dousing cold water on Seoul’s ‘sunshine policy’ of dialogue with Pyongyang.

In keeping with tradition, Tokyo is laying out laborious plans to make the best out of the upcoming visit.

Security is tight here in the Japanese capital and there is much media hype on the visit

But Ryoko Ogawa, an independent political commentator, points out the Japanese people are not as enamoured as their politicians with the upcoming Bush visit.

“The ordinary Japanese are pacifist and so not happy with the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. They are also wary of the way the United States pushed Japan to support its military campaign,” she says.

In fact, she points out that the public will be closely watching Koizumi’s leadership to see if he is able to steer Japan away from the usual U.S. dominance that has characterised bilateral relations.