Worry about U.S.-Japan relations

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32678, 6 August 1971, Page 9

Worry about U.S.-Japan relations

W.Z.P.A. Staff Correspondent; WASHINGTON, August 5. Increasing alarm is evident within the diplomatic community in Washington at the deteriorating state of United States-Japan relations.

Yesterday, under a twocolumn front page heading, "U.S. Criticism of Japan Grows as Strains Multiply,” the "New York Times” reported concern among both United States and Japanese officials.

In one report from the United States capital the “New York Times” quoted an administration official as saying that there had been "a lot of bad blood” lately.

In a second report, from Tokyo, it quoted a Japanese official: “Intellectually I know that another war between Japan and the United States is unthinkable but emotionally I sense a kind of pre-Pearl Harbour atmosphere in the relations between our two countries.” A breakdown in relations between the two Powers is not considered imminent. But the position is thought sufficiently serious by Asian and Pacific nations to have started a flow of discussions between their envoys and United States officials. Today the New Zealand

Ambassador (Mr Frank Corner), is scheduled to meet the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs (Mr Marshall Green). Developments in Washington-Tokyo relations are expected to be discussed at length. The “New York Times” reported that ill feeling within the Administration had become so intense that even at the highest level many had questioned the Japanese sense of honour, alleging a

failure to fulfill commitments to the United States. Its report from Tokyo said that friction and ill-will were intensified as a result of the President’s announcement that he would visit China, after having given only the barest advance notice to the i Japanese. The report quoted a Japanese official as say- i ing that the announcement set Japanese-American relations back 10 years. Other irritants centre on: i Japanese failure to curb its > textile exports to the United States to a level acceptable to Washington; the slowness with which Tokyo is moving to liberalise its import policies; the pace and extent of its effort to ease restrictions on direct foreign investment. The Japanese argue that the process of liberalising import and investment restrictions takes time. They counsel patience and repeat that greater liberalisation of import and investment policies is under way. But U.S. businessmen are becoming increasingly impatient. The Administration, under pressure from U.S. textile interests and the business community, is similarly annoyed. There is also annoyance over the persistent Japanese refusal to revalue the yen. Economic authorities believe a Tokyo decision to revalue would do much to restore balance in international trade and give U.S. exporters an opportunitv to recapture lost markets.

The “ray of light,” as diplomats see it, is a growing awareness within the Administration and in Tokyo that a big effort is necessary to restore harmony to relations between the two nations. Dr Henry Kissinger, President Nixon’s chief foreign policy adviser, is known to believe that in the long term the U.S. is likely to face even more difficult political questions in its dealings with Japan than with China. He leans to the view that the economic issues primarily blighting AmericanJapanese relations now will take second place to problems of a political nature. Foreign affairs analysts believe that among these problems will be the possibility of a Japanese nuclear capability, its over-all defence role in the Asian and Pacific region and the extent to which it is prepared to pro-

vide military facilities for the U.S. Some Pentagon officials complain that while Japan spends comparatively little on defence and shelters under the U.S. nuclear umbrella, it shows reluctance to accommodate American nuclear weapons through the country. There is a feeling that the Japanese have consistently under estimated the pressures on President Nixon to obtain a better trade deal from them. This is balanced to some extent by United States preoccupation over the

last 12 months with normalising its relations with Pe-

king. The Japanese Foreign Minister (Mr Tafakuda) is to, lead a Japanese team for discussions next month with a United States group headed by Secretary of State (Mr William P. Rogers).

Good relations between the two nations are a cornerstone of both their existing foreign policies. The Western diplomatic community in Washington hopes next month's official talks will do much to improve the atmosphere between them.