SOUTH-EAST ASIA AND JAPAN ECONOMIC PENETRATION REVIVES MANY OLD FEARS

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33121, 11 January 1973, Page 8

SOUTH-EAST ASIA AND JAPAN ECONOMIC PENETRATION REVIVES MANY OLD FEARS

Bv

MAYNARD PARKER

? tn "N'eusu ecv )

i Reprinted by arrangement)

To a degree that I would have thought impossible only two years ago. it is no longer the ugly American who is condemned in a>t Asia's newspapers and Foreign Ministries, but the ugly Japanese. . n g South-East Asian leaders, businessmen and intellectuals there is a growing fear that the web of economic interdependence the Japanese have woven with their trade and aid may turn into “neo-colomalism. At the same time there is apprehension over when and how Japan will c loose to exert this economic muscle politically.

Bv now, Japan’s economic penetration of SouthEast Asia is a familiar story. But that new influence has recently sparked a resurgence of antr-Japanese teeling in the area. After a wide-ranging tour of South-East Asia, “Newsweek’s” Maynard Parker sent this report.

Until very recently. |' much of this suspicion was whispered privately but in the last year it has burst into public view. Last spring. Thailand's leading intellec-j itua) journal devoted an entire 1 'issue to such articles as "The Yellow Peril” and “The Japanese Menace.” In November. in a demonstration tacitly sanctioned by the i Thai military Government and officially blessed bv King i Bhumibol. Thai students: staged a week-long anti- : Japanese boycott. They i burned Japanese flags and ■ replicas of Japanese products, ■ and launched a “Buy Thai” t campaign that caused a 40 | per cent drop-off in sales at ] the local Daimaru department • store. 1 In Taiwan, angry demon- ' strators burned pictures of i .Japanese Prime Minister i SKakuei Tanaka. And in 1 Malaysia, where Japan’s , rapid development of synthe- t tic rubber has cut into the t vital rubber markets, a senior ; Cabinet Minister angrily said t that Malaysia was “already t a captive market for t Japanese goods” and that all ] of South-East Asia would be- t come a Japanese economic s colony unless protective mea- < sures were taken. ! j

Exclusive practices There is also a growing resentment over the alleged social snobbishness and exclusivity of the Japanese businessmen and tourists who swarm over the region. As Singapore’s Foreign Minister, Sinnathamby Rajaratnam, told me: “The Japanese tour-; ist flies Japan Air Lines, stays: jin a Japanese-owned hotel, eats at a Japanese restaurant' and goes to a Japanese department store to buy a Jap-, anese camera or radio because it’s cheaper than it is' in Japan. How much economic benefit do we Singaporeans get from that?” Whether it is because they; really think themselves a superior race—as most South-! East Asians say—or because they are painfully shy and uncomfortable when they are out of Japan, this Japanese tendency to stick to themselves creates rankling irritations beyond the economic fields. As Singapore’s Lowe Guan On, the deputy general manager of Jurong Shipyard, told me: “The Japanese don’t want to be treated like sec-ond-class citizens in Europe or the States, but despite the fact that they took a great deal from Chinese culture they don’t treat us as equals! and they don’t associate with! us socially.” Sooner or later, warn those Asians who re-i member World War 11, the Samurai strain in the Japanese will emerge from today’s economic miracle. As one of the area’s leading bankers put it succinctly: “A leopard does not change his spots.” Everywhere in Asia But the' cause of Japan’s present-day troubles is not so much its past history as its present remarkable economic success—a success that has hurtled Japan into a position of economic pre-eminence in Asia and has made all but a few of the countries dependent on Japan for their economic survival. The Japanese presence in Asia is nothing less than extraordinary. Along the harbours of Singapore and Hong Kong, atop buildings in Bangkok and Manila, neon signs blurt out their plugs for Sony, Panasonic and Toyota. Japanese; send their children to Japanese schools throughout the: region and there are more! Japanese businessmen in 'Asia than there are AmeriI cans.

The trade figures portray an even deeper Japanese penetration. In 1970, Japan bought more than 45 per cent of the exports from Taiwan, more than 40 per cent from the Philippines and more than 35 per cent from Thailand and Indonesia. Even more startling is the Japanese prediction that by 1980, Japan will provide South-East Asia with nearly 50 per cent of its imports while buying the major share of South-East Asia’s exports.

Given this dependence iti •jis not surprising that South- :! East Asians have begun to i fear and resent the Japanese. Ruthless methods Part of it, as most Asians , i will admit, is plain envy. But i there is more to the antiJapanese mood than that. , Among other things, South-; iEast Asians charge that the Japanese business methods ;are too ruthless. In addition' ito outright bribery, the Jap-, lanese are accused of other! i shady, if not unethical, prac-i tices that anger South-East! Asians. The Japanese fre-i Iquently have signed up for a] ;joint venture and then sent; [obsolete equipment from; (Tokyo in order to buy new! equipment for the home fac- ! tory. | Another South-East Asian!' complaint is that the Japan-; ese—unlike the Americans or' (Europeans—drag their feet on training local workers to take over jobs held by Jap■anese and often refuse to share their expertise with their business partners. “I i .wouldn’t mind much if they w-anted to keep 20 per cent or 30 per cent of their technology to themselves.”; grumbles a Singapore ship-'

yard official, "but we aren’t even getting 50 per cent and [we’re in a company with them.” i Ail this has led many South-East Asians to believe that Japan wants the same sort of economic relationship with them as their old colonial masters had. As Thanat Khoman. former Foreign Minister of Thailand, told me: “Japanese policy in SouthEast Asia is ’mercantilist. They want to sell manufactured products and get raw materials.” Since there is hardly a soul in South-East Asia who wants to go back to the colonial days, governments and businesses in the area have begun to take steps to ensure that the Japanese train local workers, employ, fewer Japanese and do at; least some of their produc-l tion in South-East Asia in-> stead of Japan. Said Indonesia’s trade Minister. Sumitroj Djojohadikusumo: “We want the Japanese to train our people. We don’t w T ant em-[ ployment only as public-,; relations men, appointment brokers and influence peddlers riding around in their Mercedes 200 s. The! majority of our people wantj to learn a trade.” Need to modernise As Sumitro acknowledges, South-East Asia desperately j needs the Japanese to mod-! ernise. It cannot afford to en- [ act tariff walls or boycott; Japanese goods; the best that can be done is to put a modicum of pressure on the Jap-

t anese as a means of getting 1 the Japanese to police them i selves. Admitted Thanat Khc man: “We’re going to have ,’ to rely upon the Japanese for s some time to come. Most : American firms aren't really > interested in South-East Asia ■ and their products are too t expensive. And the Europeans i are too engrossed in their Lown problems. South-East • Asia will have to look to ’Japan and depend on it for •'most of this decade. If they ' can round off the edges of ■ [their methods, then I think l we can work out our prob Llems.” ■! Japanese diplomats and Asian officials > hope that a tighter rein by ‘ local governments and a de ' gree of Japanese self-restraint -Swill point the way for a happier political relationship 'when Japan emerges more [forcefully into the South-Eas, ’’Asian political arena. “» • think we must be circumspect in dealing with the Jap;.nlese.” said Tommy Koh. dean of the University of Singa'pore Law School. "For good or for evil they’re going to be a force in this area and ;the road they take will in large part be determined by how we deal with them. If we cut off their markets and resources and they fear their • economic viability is threat ened, then this might produce the old paranoia that everyone is ganging up on them. And that's something we [ want to avoid this time round.”