August 31, 2010
‘China is rival’
“Is China really a threat to Japan?” – Yanagisawa Kyoji who served as an Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary in charge of national security and crisis management raised this question in the Diet.
Top trading partner
“At the time of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and Japan were opposed to each other. Japan and China are now competing with each other for the same purpose (of achieving economic development) and have no motivation to destroy each other. If Chinese economic policies wreck havoc on the Japanese economy, Chinese economy will be unable to survive. The same can be said for the U.S.-China relationship,” Yanagisawa said on April 20 in his lecture at the Diet building.
In fact, Japan, the U.S., and China have developed an unprecedented mutually dependent economic relationship.
After World War II, Japan achieved economic growth through trade with the United States. However, since 2007, China has become Japan’s top trading partner. And the same is true for the United States. U.S.-China trade has increased by more than ten times from the 1992 level of about 33 billion dollars. China is the main holder of U.S. treasury bonds. In 2008, thanks in part to China, the U.S. economy was able to survive the global economic crisis.
In preparation for the Japan-China joint development of the natural gas in the East China Sea, operations at the working level have begun. Concerns and frictions between Japan and China can be solved through diplomatic channels as the two countries further their relation of interdependence.
Is the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty applied to the Senkaku Islands over which the Japanese and the Chinese governments are claiming sovereignty in the first place? Kodama Kazuo, press secretary of the Foreign Ministry, on August 18 made public that he confirmed with the U.S. side that Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. military treaty (a provision regarding Japan-U.S. joint military operations) is “applied to Japan’s territorial area, including the Senkakus.”
In a document entitled, “The Senkaku Islands”, released in June 1972 by the U.S. National Security Council, the United States clarifies its stance saying, “Although our press guidance has been revised somewhat to accommodate Japanese requests, this in no way implies a shift in the basic U.S. position of neutrality in the Senkaku dispute.” “If Japanese officials ask whether the U.S. –Japan Mutual Security Treaty will apply to the Senkakus after reversion, you should reply that the terms of the Security Treaty apply to ‘territories under the administration of Japan,’ and therefore could be interpreted to apply to the Senkakus.”
US logic at question
The United States is highly cautious about China because the Chinese forces have gained ground in R&D in outer space and cyberspace in addition to ocean space.
The United States has traditionally secured its national interests by aiming military activities at “public” spaces. China’s entry into such spaces provides a sense of threat to the United States.
In order to check China militarily, the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty is being strengthened. The “threat of China” in Japan follows the United States position on China.
Maeda Tetsuo, a military expert, pointed out, “In the 1980s, under the pretext that the Soviet Union deployed its Far East Navy to the high seas, the Japanese government began its military buildup. The same thing can happen again.”
On the other hand, U.S. President Barack Obama on November 14, 2009 in his speech regarding policy on U.S. diplomacy in Asia said that unlike in the case of the Soviet Union, the United States does not seek to “contain” China and expressed his intention to establish a cooperative relationship with China on various global tasks.
Nobody would benefit from a vicious circle of military expansion under which China takes measures to counter the strengthening of the Japan-U.S. military ties due to a perceived “threat from China”.
(To be continued)
- Akahata, August 31, 2010
“Is China really a threat to Japan?” – Yanagisawa Kyoji who served as an Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary in charge of national security and crisis management raised this question in the Diet.
Top trading partner
“At the time of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and Japan were opposed to each other. Japan and China are now competing with each other for the same purpose (of achieving economic development) and have no motivation to destroy each other. If Chinese economic policies wreck havoc on the Japanese economy, Chinese economy will be unable to survive. The same can be said for the U.S.-China relationship,” Yanagisawa said on April 20 in his lecture at the Diet building.
In fact, Japan, the U.S., and China have developed an unprecedented mutually dependent economic relationship.
After World War II, Japan achieved economic growth through trade with the United States. However, since 2007, China has become Japan’s top trading partner. And the same is true for the United States. U.S.-China trade has increased by more than ten times from the 1992 level of about 33 billion dollars. China is the main holder of U.S. treasury bonds. In 2008, thanks in part to China, the U.S. economy was able to survive the global economic crisis.
In preparation for the Japan-China joint development of the natural gas in the East China Sea, operations at the working level have begun. Concerns and frictions between Japan and China can be solved through diplomatic channels as the two countries further their relation of interdependence.
Is the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty applied to the Senkaku Islands over which the Japanese and the Chinese governments are claiming sovereignty in the first place? Kodama Kazuo, press secretary of the Foreign Ministry, on August 18 made public that he confirmed with the U.S. side that Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. military treaty (a provision regarding Japan-U.S. joint military operations) is “applied to Japan’s territorial area, including the Senkakus.”
In a document entitled, “The Senkaku Islands”, released in June 1972 by the U.S. National Security Council, the United States clarifies its stance saying, “Although our press guidance has been revised somewhat to accommodate Japanese requests, this in no way implies a shift in the basic U.S. position of neutrality in the Senkaku dispute.” “If Japanese officials ask whether the U.S. –Japan Mutual Security Treaty will apply to the Senkakus after reversion, you should reply that the terms of the Security Treaty apply to ‘territories under the administration of Japan,’ and therefore could be interpreted to apply to the Senkakus.”
US logic at question
The United States is highly cautious about China because the Chinese forces have gained ground in R&D in outer space and cyberspace in addition to ocean space.
The United States has traditionally secured its national interests by aiming military activities at “public” spaces. China’s entry into such spaces provides a sense of threat to the United States.
In order to check China militarily, the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty is being strengthened. The “threat of China” in Japan follows the United States position on China.
Maeda Tetsuo, a military expert, pointed out, “In the 1980s, under the pretext that the Soviet Union deployed its Far East Navy to the high seas, the Japanese government began its military buildup. The same thing can happen again.”
On the other hand, U.S. President Barack Obama on November 14, 2009 in his speech regarding policy on U.S. diplomacy in Asia said that unlike in the case of the Soviet Union, the United States does not seek to “contain” China and expressed his intention to establish a cooperative relationship with China on various global tasks.
Nobody would benefit from a vicious circle of military expansion under which China takes measures to counter the strengthening of the Japan-U.S. military ties due to a perceived “threat from China”.
(To be continued)
- Akahata, August 31, 2010
