America and Japan

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33973, 14 October 1975, Page 20

America and Japan

When he arrived in Washington, Emperor Hirohito said a major purpose of his visit was to thank the American people for the help they had given during Japan’s post-war period of economic and political reconstruction. Many Japanese are now questioning the need for such rapid economic development as in recent decades, for they now see the problems created by this rapid growth. Some of these problems were touched on by the Prime Minister, Mr Takeo Miki, in a recent interview. He referred to Japan’s almost total reliance on imported resources—especially oil—for industrial growth. In the immediate post-war period the raw materials for Japan’s energy and industrial requirements were relatively cheap; now the quantities needed were harder and a great deal more costly to acquire. Japan, said Mr Miki, had been going at 100 miles an hour, and must now slow down to 60. Labour shortage and industrial pollution—the latter far more acute than probably anywhere else in the world—were also referred to by Mr Miki.

These are some of the subjects which the Emperor and his advisers—he himself is almost wholly excluded from political decision-making—will discuss during their American visit. But the main emphasis will be on broadening and strengthening the relationship between the two countries. In the past this relationship has been confined mainly to Pacific interests, and to Japan’s overriding need for an American security shield. Now. it is suggested, the Persian Gulf is as much a matter for concern and consultation as the Pacific region, especially since the American departure from South-East Asia. The attainment of world-wide stability will be at the heart of future consultations between Washington and Tokyo. The Secretary of State, Dr Kissinger, with characteristic lucidity, has already indicated that there will be no extreme changes of policy, no Insistence on common action by either Government. Policies, he said in June, would not necessarily be identical, but there would be “ compatible approaches ”. The whole emphasis on a broader American-Japanese relationship is certain to be on the idea of compatibility: on the understanding that independent diplomacy towards other States is in no way precluded.

It has been suggested, for example, that a major goal of Japanese diplomacy will be to restore calm and balance to relations between North and South Korea. In essence, it is thought, the two Governments will be aiming at a shared examination of security problems on international lines, with Japan carrying a heavier load of diplomatic responsibility and the United States continuing its military role of protector. Washington, with Japanese tolerance, will be putting out its own diplomatic feelers to Hanoi. Both Governments will have an eoual interest in balancing their uneasy relationships with China and the Soviet Union. This again embraces the Kissinger theorv of rompatibilitv. or elasticity, in the conduct of policies not necessarily identical. President Ford’s visit to Tokvo last vear. and the visits to Washington since of Mr Miki. and now the Emneror, seem to indicate that the two Governments are determined to make what thev call their " snecial relationshin ” an Instrument for broader and more constructive International understanding.