TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/100190/1001008.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 4KB | 88 lines

                                                                                WORLD, Page 58

AMERICA ABROAD

Japan and the Vision Thing


By Strobe Talbott


    TOKYO

    Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu is apprehensive about his
scheduled meeting with George Bush in New York City this week.
Both men know that many Americans want Japan to play a larger
role in the Persian Gulf. After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait,
Kaifu's government dithered for nearly a month before offering
$1 billion to help finance the  multilateral response.
"Contemptible tokenism!," harrumphed Senator John McCain, an
Arizona Republican. The U.S. ambassador in Tokyo, Michael
Armacost, was more diplomatic, but just as tough. Two weeks
ago, Kaifu raised the figure to $4 billion -- serious money but
eminently affordable for a country whose GNP rings up almost
that much every 12 hours.

    The real issue is not so much the dollar amount as the
nature of the Japanese contribution. So far it's all treasure
and no blood, all soft power and no hard. Left to its own
instincts, Japan's sole instrument of security policy would be
its checkbook. That isn't good enough in a world menaced by the
likes of Saddam Hussein. The burden to be shared in the gulf
is not just financial cost; it is also mortal risk. If U.S.,
Saudi, Egyptian, British and other soldiers die in the desert,
Japan's billions will have bought more resentment than
gratitude from its partners.

    The Japanese justify keeping their military personnel out
of harm's way by citing their "peace constitution," which the
U.S. imposed after World War II and which restricts the
carefully named Self-Defense Forces to the home islands and
territorial waters. Still, some of Kaifu's advisers believe the
government could send communications and logistics experts,
even minesweepers to the crisis zone. Last week, in an effort
to blunt the criticism that Japan is wimping out, the Foreign
Ministry dispatched a small team of volunteer medics to Saudi
Arabia and promised more may follow. Others advocate dispatching
combat units under United Nations authority. However, Japanese
officials worry that even strictly non-offensive deployments
would arouse anxiety among their neighbors in Asia.

    An Indonesian diplomat in Tokyo dismisses this concern as
exaggerated and self-serving. "Sure, we remember the militarism
and imperialism associated with the Rising Sun in the '30s and
'40s," he says. "But this is the '90s, and the threat is Saddam
and his ilk. The Japanese are using our hang-ups as a cover for
their own."

    Seizaburo Sato, a foreign policy analyst and adviser to
former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, agrees. "The talk of
constitutional constraints and demons of the past is all one
big alibi," he says. "We mustn't miss a golden opportunity to
prove we recognize our responsibilities."

    Part of the problem is that Japan has its own trouble with
"the vision thing." Despite its status as an economic
superpower, the country suffers from global parochialism. The
closest approximation of a grand strategy is the goal of
keeping the world safe for Japanese exports and investments.
The political system depends, sometimes to the point of
paralysis, on consensus. The prime ministership has rarely been
a bully pulpit, especially in recent years. After a massive
stock-trading scandal, the shoguns of the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party chose Kaifu in 1989 not just because he was
untainted. He was untested and unthreatening as well, a
caretaker who would be easy to push around and eventually to
push aside.

    Earlier this year Kaifu showed signs of being a lot better
than that. Demonstrating unexpected skill and boldness, he
engineered major progress in trade talks with the U.S. This
week he could advance both his own standing and his country's
by bringing more than just his checkbook to his meeting with
Bush.