Japan’s security environment is deteriorating as China has rapidly built up and modernized its military and North Korea has been proceeding steadily with nuclear and ballistic missile development.
Japan has conventionally considered countermeasures and relevant legislation after the occurrence of crises and has been criticized as “following in the footsteps of the United States.” With such a passive stance, Japan cannot maintain domestic or regional peace and prosperity.
Japan must pursue proactive diplomacy: It must become involved in the formation of a safe international environment on its own initiative and secure the national interest at the same time.
In his New Year’s press conference, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emphasized, “This will be a year in which Japan’s diplomacy leads the world.”
Contain intl terrorism
Japan will chair the meetings of the Group of Seven major countries this year. It has also returned to the U.N. Security Council as a nonpermanent member. We wonder what role Japan will assume in rebuilding international order and how it will carry out a “proactive contribution to peace.”
At the Ise-Shima summit meeting of the G-7 major nations, scheduled for late May, measures to deal with international terrorism, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group, will be high on the agenda.
Terrorist acts, including those committed by young people affected by radical beliefs on the Internet or through other sources, have been frequently occurring in various parts of the world. The international community must recognize the stern reality that the threat of international terrorism has entered a new phase.
To weaken ISIL, it is necessary for countries to prevent would-be fighters from traveling across borders by enforcing strict immigration and border controls and closely exchanging intelligence, and to cut off the financing channels for terrorism. Japan should take the lead in deciding on comprehensive measures, including how to counter terrorist propaganda.
Meanwhile, China has been intensifying its attempts to “change the status quo by force,” such as conducting test flights on one of the man-made islands the country built in the South China Sea.
Securing the safety of sea-lanes is of common interest to the international community. The G-7 nations must join hands in pushing China to comply with international law.
In April, the G-7 foreign ministerial meeting will be held in Hiroshima. It is significant that the G-7 foreign ministers, who are heavily responsible for nuclear disarmament, will gather for the first time in a city on which an atomic bomb was dropped.
The security-related legislation, which passed into law in September, will come into force in March.
Allowing our country to exercise its right of collective self-defense will greatly enhance the effectiveness of the Japan-U.S. alliance, through a synergy effect with the U.S. rebalancing policy that focuses on Asia.
In order to deal with various situations swiftly, it is essential for the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. forces to cooperate closely and expand their joint exercises and surveillance activities. The transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture to the Henoko area in the prefecture is the only realistic way to reduce the burden on local people living in the vicinity of U.S. bases while, at the same time, maintaining the deterrent power of the U.S. military in Japan.
As the time for considering other options has already passed, this is the stage at which the relocation plan should be put into action.
The feud between the government and Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, who opposes the relocation project, has wound up in court. It is important for the government to make steady progress in building an alternative facility for the Futenma base, even while its court battle proceeds.
Future-oriented ties
Trilateral summit talks among Japan, China and South Korea will be held in our country this year. The meeting will likely seek to expand working-level cooperation in economic, environmental and other fields.
Abe intends to hold separate talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and South Korean President Park Geun-hye. These talks should be made conducive to establishing future-oriented relations between Japan and China and between Japan and South Korea.
The overall direction of Japan-China relations is toward improvement. To ensure this trend takes root, it is important to continue bilateral dialogue from a broad standpoint of a mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests. We suggest Japan and China frankly discuss such issues as a new form of cooperation between the two countries and the creation of a new order in Asia.
At the same time, no efforts should be spared to keep on guard against government ships from China that may intrude into Japanese waters around the Senkaku Islands. It is also necessary to appropriately refute China’s criticisms leveled against Japan in connection with perceptions of history.
Late last year, the Japanese and South Korean governments reached a deal over the issue of so-called comfort women. Japan will donate about ¥1 billion to extend assistance to former comfort women. Meanwhile, South Korea will endeavor to ensure a statue of a girl symbolizing comfort women, built in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, is removed.
The Japan-South Korea deal has antagonized a group supporting former comfort women. South Korea’s public opinion is not favorable toward the latest deal, either. It is indispensable for the South Korean government to act with a sense of responsibility in persuading the people concerned to accept the deal, and then faithfully implement it.
Cooperative ties between Japan and South Korea, both of which have an alliance with the United States, must be reinforced, a task essential for taking all possible precautions with respect to North Korea’s nuclear development program.
Progress with Putin?
Another important task for our nation is to resolve the dispute over North Korea’s abduction of Japanese nationals. North Korea has continued to put off reporting to Japan the results of its renewed investigation into the fate of the kidnapped. If the current state of affairs goes unchanged, the Japanese government should seriously discuss reinstating the sanctions previously imposed on that country but later lifted.
Abe is seeking to resolve the northern territories issue, based on his relationship of trust with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Although Putin’s visit to Japan has been postponed for two years in a row, the prime minister is poised to consider making a trip to Russia on his own and to explore ways of finding common ground in the two sides’ stances on the issue.
There is no doubt that a high hurdle stands in the way of settling the Japan-Russia territorial problem. The United States and European nations remain strongly and persistently opposed to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Japan must carefully watch Russia’s moves and proceed with territorial negotiations, while attaching great importance to cooperative relations among the G-7 nations.(The Yomiuri Shimbun)
Link: http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002664882
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