The Global Forum of Japan (GFJ) E-Letter

1 April 2011, Vol. 4, No. 2

Greetings,

"The Global Forum of Japan (GFJ) E-Letter" is delivered electronically bimonthly, free of charge, to the readers in the world interested in Japanese thinking on the relations of Japan with the rest of the world and other related international affairs by the Global Forum of Japan (GFJ), private membership organization in Japan for policy-oriented international exchanges.

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"GFJ Commentary" presents views of members of GFJ on the relations of Japan with the rest of the world and other related international affairs. The view expressed herein is the author's own and should not be attributed to GFJ.

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On "Japan-U.S. Relations in the Era of Smart Power"
                                     By YAMAZAWA Ippei
                                     Professor Emeritus of Hitotsubashi University

On February 14, 2011, I attended a conference in Tokyo called "the Japan-U.S. Dialogue: Japan-U.S. Relations in the Era of Smart Power" (conference papers of the "Dialogue" can be referred to at the following link: http://www.gfj.jp/eng/dialogue/38/cp.pdf). The conference was co-sponsored by the Global Forum of Japan (GFJ) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). So long as the conference dealt with "the Era of Smart Power," Japan-U.S. cooperation in this context was supposed to embody both the soft and hard aspects of power, but I could not help getting the impression that the discussions in the conference were disproportionately focused on Japan-U.S. cooperation in hard power aspect centering on military might. Therefore, with a view to making up for the imbalance of the discussions, I made a remark laying emphasis on the importance of Japan-U.S. soft power cooperation, especially in the economic realm. Following is the gist of my remark.

As regards the global economic management, Japan and the U.S. have cooperated closely in Group of Seven and Eight over thirty years. Within the current G20 framework with enlarged membership, the two countries have continued their cooperation in financial stability and macro-economic policies, and now tackling the issue of increasing food prices. G20 will be expanded to combat energy, environment, and other global challenges. They should work hard to conclude the prolonged DDA negotiation of WTO within this year. The U.S. and Japan should lead its discussions together with EU and encourage new members, especially BRICs to behave as responsible stakeholders in combating these issues.

Japan and the U.S. should also discuss to strengthen their cooperation in maintaining the peace and prosperity in the Asia Pacific region. Asia Pacific is now most dynamic and plays a locomotive role of the world economy and the two countries have to cooperate in maintaining it. Unlike in Europe, the institutionalization of regional economic cooperation has been delayed and the region still faces big challenges in diplomacy and security, as numerous people point out.

Here we witness two moves in the regional economic cooperation, which tend to conflict with each other. One is ASEAN + 3, while the other is Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). ASEAN + 3, pushed by China, excludes the U.S., while the TPP negotiated under the U.S. leadership does not include China. The U.S.-China joint leaders' statement in last month does welcome China as a responsible stakeholder but Chinese feel that she is excluded. Japanese PM Kan has taken a strong initiative in joining TPP but the current TPP composition (excluding China) does not promise us with a big scale merit.

At APEC Yokohama last November, Leaders set as the long term goal FTAAP (FTA of the Asia-Pacific), including both the U.S. and China. Leaders suggested both ASEAN + 3 and TPP as two roadmaps to be promoted in parallel. In order to mitigate the conflict between the two moves, we need to strengthen the APEC's continued TILF process itself as an effective incubator for the FTAAP. The U.S. host APEC this year and start its leadership in the first SOM next week and Japan, as the immediate preceding host, should help the US in clarifying their strong commitment to FTAAP. I believe this aspect need to be addressed in the Japan-U.S. smart power cooperation.

(This is an original contribution by Prof. YAMAZAWA Ippei, Professor Emeritus of Hitotsubashi University, to "GFJ Commentary" on 1 March 2011. Prof. YAMAZAWA is a Opinion Leader Member of GFJ.)

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Black Joke in Terrorism in Russia
                                     By OOTOMI Akira
                                     Professor Emeritus of Hitotsubashi University

The Russian government was indeed quick. Soon after Moscow Domodedovo Airport was bombed on January 29, footage of the incident has been broadcast worldwide on TV. Needless to say, the footage was possible thanks to the video camera set at the site accidentally. On the following day, the profiles of the criminal were described as "three males from Chechen."

In contrast to the case of the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya which has been left unresolved for more than four years and whose suspect has not yet been pinpointed by the Russian government, we cannot help but sigh at the remarkable performance of investigative sources of the Russian government this time. Even the case of bombing of an apartment in Moscow 12 years ago still shows no signs of being resolved. One should not, however, be overconfident of the Russian government which should be accused of a series of false announcement in the past.

In Japan on the other hand, an editorial entitled "Terror in Russian Airport: Struggles should be Made to Eliminate Hatred" which appeared in the January 26 issue of the Yomiuri Shimbun quite correctly pointed out "the dissatisfaction among Chechen people towards unfair treatment from Russian government as the proper background for these terrorists attacks."

In relation to the bombing, most Japanese newspapers including the January 25 issue of Tokyo Shimbun introduced a chart of "major cases of terrorism in Russia in recent years." The chart, however, has a defect in that it is the one that indicates "the number of Russian people killed by Chechen terrorists" and not vice versa. The number of Russians that have been killed by Chechens does not exceed 1,000, whereas that of Chechen people dying from military attacks by Russian army exceeds 200,000, which is a whopping number. This chart, therefore, does not give a true picture of the situation.

It is not meant that to blame is the Russians on the ground that the simple comparison of the number of victims shows that more Chechens have been killed than Russians. The question is that the inability to grasp the nature of each incident against the background of larger historical context is of grave concern.

It is not only in the case of Chechen issues that most Japanese mass media tend to cover stories from the standpoint of the Russians government and authorities concerned. In Japan, mass media has been closely associated with the Japanese government through such mechanisms as press clubs. As a consequence, even the fact that most of the hostages were killed by toxic substances released by Russia army in Moscow Theatre hostage crisis has been distorted in Japanese mass media. In an chronology in an newspaper described that Russian forces successfully released hostages with 129 casualties. Is it suggesting that hostages were "released to heaven?" This is nothing but black humor.

The casualties of 330 people in the Beslan school hostage crisis was the result of the storm of the ground forces into the school under the direction of the Russian government who refused to negotiate with the hostage takers. However, it is usually reported that the blame is on the Chechen side, which apparently lacks fairness is coverage.

Though the above is only the case typical of Japan, from the global perspective also the Chechen issues are far from being comprehended properly. Sometimes, unfounded reports that Chechen militants are associated with Al-Qaeda have been seen.

During more than 15 years of military attacks by Russians, some of the Chechen people have became the puppets of the Russian government and infringed human rights of their fellow Chechens, which has made the whole picture rather complicated. But the problem is that this series of conflicts has in the first place started with Russia's attempts to conquer the Caucasus with violence. To be more precise, in the context of international politics with Russia as a primary actor, this war has persisted because of the unjust violation of human rights of Chechen people and their autonomy. I sincerely hope that the people all over the world would pay attention to this fact.

(This is the English translation of an article written by OOTOMI Akira, Editor in Chief, Chechen News, which originally appeared on the BBS "Giron-Hyakushutsu" of GFJ on June 26, 2011.)

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For more views and opinions in the backnumber of "GFJ Commentary," the latest of which are as follows, please refer to:
http://www.gfj.jp/eng/commentary/backnumber.html

No.33 Meltdown of Japan

by HAKAMADA Shigeki, Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University
(31 December 2010)

No.32 Is DPJ Capable of Governance?

by OKADA Shoichi, former Corporate Executive
(29 October 2010)

No.31 Ruling DPJ Lacking Majority in Diet and No Good Signs for Coalition; What is Happening in Japanese Politics?

by SUGIURA Masaaki, Political Commentator
(30 August 2010)

No.30 Unfinished Tasks of the Futenma Issue

by YUSHITA Hiroyuki, former Ambassador to the Philippines
(30 June 2010)

No.29 A Government Can be Collapsed by "Such a Thing"

by SUGIURA Masaaki, Political Commentator
(30 April 2010)

No.28 Some Thoughts on Futenma Station Relocation Issue

by OKAWARA Yoshio,Chairman of The Global Forum of Japan
(26 February 2010)

"GFJ Updates" introduces to you the latest events, announcement and/or publications of GFJ.

The Japan-U.S. Dialogue "The U.S.-Japan Relations in the Era of Smart Power" Held

The Global Forum of Japan (GFJ), under the co-sponsorship with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), organized the Japan-U.S. Dialogue on the theme of "The U.S.-Japan Relations in the Era of Smart Power" in Tokyo on February 14, 2011. This Dialogue was attended by 89 participants including Prof. KAMIYA Matake of the National Defense Academy of Japan and Mr. WATANABE Tsuneo of the Tokyo Foundation from the Japanese side, and Dr. Michael GREEN of the CSIS and Prof. James PRZYSTUP of the U.S. National Defense University from the U.S. side.

For more, please refer to:
http://www.gfj.jp/eng/dialogue/38/cp.pdf

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The "Japan-East Asia Dialogue "East Asia in Transition and New Perspectives on Regional Cooperation" Held

The Global Forum of Japan (GFJ), under the co-sponsorship with International Studies Department, Vietnam National University, organized the Japan-East Asia Dialogue on the theme of "East Asia in Transition and New Perspectives on Regional Cooperation" in Tokyo on February 24, 2011. This Dialogue was attended by 77 participants including Prof. ITO Go of Meiji University and Prof. OGASAWARA Takayuki of the Yamanashi Gakuin University from the Japanese side, and Prof. PHAN Quang Mihn of the Vietnam National University and Mr. KWON Taek-Myung of the KEB Foundation of Korea from the East Asian side.

For more, please refer to:
http://www.gfj.jp/eng/dialogue/39/cp.pdf

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