JAPAN: Playing Bad Neighbour

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Analysis by Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO , Feb 25 2006 (IPS) - Japan’s sagging ties with its Asian neighbours plunged to a new low, this month, when foreign minister Taro Aso said Japanese pre-World War II colonisation of Taiwan resulted in a raising of education levels in that country.

”Thanks to the significant improvement in education standards and literacy (during colonisation), Taiwan is now a country with a very high education levelà’, he told a public audience on Feb. 4.

That comment follows another controversy started by Aso, a well-known conservative, when he suggested in January that the emperor visit the Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese war criminals are enshrined and already at the centre of friction in Sino-Japanese relations.

China and South Korea – victims of Japanese colonisation until 1945, when Japan was defeated by Western allies ending World War 11-find visits by Japanese politicians to Yasukuni, a symbol of Japanese militarism, deeply offensive.

Beijing slammed Aso’s remarks, saying the comment reflected Japan’s open glorification of its colonial aggression.

China ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 and the island remained under Japanese rule until the end of World War 11. During colonisation, Japan forced the Taiwanese to learn Japanese and pay allegiance to the Japanese Emperor.

Foreign relations experts here explain that the latest uproar between Japan and China has almost wiped out lingering hopes for a revival in Japan’s East Asia diplomacy that has remained frozen since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took office in 2001.

”Aso is seen as a successor to Koizumi, who is expected to step down in September. Aso’s comments about Taiwan, may boost his image as protecting national interests, but they only add to a further rift between Japan and China if he takes over the leadership,” says Prof. Yoko Iwama, an international relations expert.

Indeed, the reversal of Japan’s sliding ties with East Asia is now a burning domestic issue as more analysts begin to review their nation’s diplomacy under Koizumi, who promotes an overt pro-Washington stance.

A sign of how Koizumi’s foreign policy maybe falling out of favour at home are new critical comments by an influential and powerful figure in Japanese politics– Tsuneo Watanabe, 80, a managing editor of the popular ‘Yomiuri’ newspaper,

Watanabe said in an interview in the February edition of ‘Ronza’, a leading opinion magazine, that ”unless the Japanese themselves admit that crimes were committed, East Asian nations that were victims of invasion during the war will never be convinced of Japanese sincerity.”

Watanabe’s comments – that included criticism of Koizumi’s visits to Yasukuni – reflect an attitudinal change in Japan, now at a critical juncture of its future ties with Asia. This is against the backdrop of the world’s second richest country trying to carve out an active global role for itself.

In a bid to defuse tension, some ruling Liberal Democratic Party politicians have also called for the building of a new secular memorial to replace Yasukuni shrine – a move firmly opposed by Aso.

Koichi Ishiyama, professor of international investment at Toiin University, contends that Watanabe symbolizes the growing concern among intellectuals and businessmen who are worried about the sidelining of East Asia, especially China.

”Open criticism of Koizumi is intended to reverse the chill in Japan-Sino ties that people are aware has brought little merit to Japan…leading figures are aware that closer ties with Asia will pave the way for regional security and even help Japan to be more active on the global scene,” says Ishiyama.

Analysts believe that Japan-Asia ties remain on firm ground in terms of economic interests although critics say this has served to create a false sense of security in the country.

They point, for example, to the failure of Tokyo to solve the issue of abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korea which cannot be done without the help of Beijing. ”Japan’s bid for a permanent seat in the U.N. Security Council also failed mostly because of vehement opposition from China that also exerts influence over most of the other Asian countries,” says Prof. Masao Fukunaga, a South Asia expert at Gifu University.

In a bid to balance its poor East Asia relations, the government has been making overtures to India as seen by the visit of Koizumi to Delhi in January.

Shinzo Abe, cabinet secretary and another strong conservative contender in the race for prime minister told the Japanese press last month: ”There is another Asian power- India, which has common values with Japan such as freedom, democracy, basic human rights and rule of law,” he said answering questions on Japan-China relations.