Fighting Without Weapons, Trading Without Profit… Shinzo Abe’s visit to the USA

The week-long visit to the USA by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has left a quite ambiguous impression. One gets the sense that it was the Americans themselves who most needed this visit. In a situation where the US pivot towards Asia proclaimed in 2011 is proceeding much more slowly than expected, now it is a time when the Americans need to actively demonstrate unity and mutual understanding with their Asian allies on issues of regional security and economic cooperation.

The week-long visit to the USA by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has left a quite ambiguous impression. One gets the sense that it was the Americans themselves who most needed this visit. In a situation where the US pivot towards Asia [1] proclaimed in 2011 is proceeding much more slowly than expected, now it is a time when the Americans need to actively demonstrate unity and mutual understanding with their Asian allies on issues of regional security and economic cooperation. Japan, which has followed compliantly in the USA’s wake during the whole postwar period, suits this role better than others. As a result the main results of the visit were limited to two points: the key role of the American security system in the Asia-Pacific region was reconfirmed, and the American trade and economic initiative to create the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is essentially unfavourable to Japan itself, was advertised.

As far as the American security system is concerned, here the main role was given to publication of some more ‘new' principles of Japanese-American bilateral cooperation [2] in the area of security, which are updated approximately once every 20 years (1978 [3], 1997 [4]). The latest update was more for show and propaganda, since virtually no significant meaningful changes had been made to the essence of the document apart from the implicit designation of China as the main enemy (in 1978 it was the Soviet Union and in 1997 it was North Korea).

Now it is a time when the Americans need to actively demonstrate unity and mutual understanding with their Asian allies on issues of regional security and economic cooperation.

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The USA is pursuing its own tactical objectives and once again emphasizing Japan’s subordinate role.

While formally ramping up its belligerent and aggressive rhetoric and supposedly expanding the geography and bestowing wider authority on Japan, in actual fact the USA is pursuing its own tactical objectives and once again emphasizing Japan’s subordinate role, not allowing it to pursue a truly independent policy on security issues. While supporting and approving a review of almost all the non-military principles of the Japanese Constitution, the Americans are doing everything they can to avoid open challenges to amend or review article 9 (the so-called “pacifist” article) of the Japanese Constitution [5], which forbids Japan to have its own armed forces. For a long time it has not reflected the real situation, but it continues to guarantee Japan’s complete dependence on the USA in security matters. This article is the hook on which America’s military protection of Japan hangs. Thus Japan declares its readiness to fight on the side of the USA without weapons.

The USA’s second important objective aimed at building an effective security system in the Asia-Pacific region is to dampen down the worsening conflict between Japan and South Korea, since effective cooperation between these two countries is vitally important for the Americans. In years gone by the USA focused on bilateral security treaties, creating the so-called “umbrella spokes”, but now the time has come to stretch the fabric between the spokes and establish direct cooperation between America’s allies in the region, as has already been done, for example, between Japan and Australia [6]. In this context the conflict between Japan and South Korea, which has long been simmering and has recently been seriously exacerbated, does not fit in with American plans at all. An attempt was made to solve this problem during the Japanese prime minister’s visit to the USA. Thus a special place in the Japanese prime minister’s epoch-making speech to the US Congress was given to apologies for Japan’s conduct during the Second World War. The result, however, did not satisfy the Koreans. Shinzo Abe effectively said nothing about the real crimes and outrages perpetrated by the Japanese militarists (including the so-called Korean “comfort women” [7]), limiting his comments to general condemnation of the slaughter and to honouring the memory of American soldiers who died during the war.

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In years gone by the USA focused on bilateral security treaties, creating the so-called “umbrella spokes”, but now the time has come to stretch the fabric between the spokes and establish direct cooperation between America’s allies in the region

As far as support for the USA’s trade and economic involvement in the Asia-Pacific region is concerned, here the Japanese prime minister very enthusiastically urged [8] the American congressmen to support the creation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, regarding which Barack Obama is hoping to table a draft agreement in Congress at the end of 2015. The process of negotiations on the creation of a new free trade mega-zone began at the same time as the American pivot towards Asia was announced in 2011 and remains an important indicator of the USA’s real ability to dictate its own rules in the Asia-Pacific region. This project, however, is quite inconsistent in essence, and over the last four years the negotiating process has not achieved any practical results. While lifting cross-border trade barriers between the 12 member countries, this instrument would at the same time have a decidedly negative impact on the position of individual sectors of the economy both in the USA and in Japan. In addition, it has often been stated that the TPP is primarily geared towards isolating China, and in the longer term that is not economically advantageous to the USA or China. Up to now the Japanese government has been divided over whether Japan needs to join this mega-block, and moreover there is a very strong lobby, primarily in the agricultural and motor vehicle industries, actively condemning Japan’s participation in the TPP talks. In view of the lack of consensus within Japan, the enthusiasm about the TPP’s prospects shown by Shinzo Abe in his speech to the US Congress is perplexing.

The main reason for the keenness shown by the Japanese prime minister is most likely his desire to confirm once again for all to hear the USA’s key role not only in the security of the Asia-Pacific region but also in its economic development. One gets the impression that at this stage Japan is not ready to change the paradigm of its own foreign policy conduct and is willing to make many sacrifices for the USA. At the same time it is understandable that in order to adequately resist China, whose rising level of activity was unanimously recognised by the American and Japanese leaders as the main threat to regional stability, it is not enough for Japan to blindly submit to the USA’s will: the country needs to propose an independent foreign policy and economic agenda.

1. http://foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/11/americas-pacific-century

2. http://www.mod.go.jp/e/d_act/anpo/pdf/shishin_20150427e.pdf

3. http://www.mod.go.jp/e/d_act/anpo/19781127.html

4. http://www.mod.go.jp/e/d_act/anpo/19970923.html

5. http://japan.kantei.go.jp/constitution_and_government_of_japan/constitution_e.html

6. http://thediplomat.com/tag/u-s-japan-australia-trilateral-strategic-dialogue

7. http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/shinzo-abe-wwii-comfort-women-117423.html

8. https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/29/japans-abe-sells-trade-deal-to-congress