Watching Japan install a new prime minister after his predecessor’s 15 months in office, we cannot but feel unease about continuing political instability in the neighboring country, which needs a strong leadership to weather the many political and economic problems ahead.
Naoto Kan may take consolation from the fact that he served longer than average as the fifth prime minister since 2006 but Kan and his colleagues at the ruling Democratic Party of Japan should share responsibility for having to form the third government in just two years since taking over from the Liberal Democratic Party in 2009. Internal party rivalry was more to blame for this than challenges from the conservative opposition.
The election of the ruling party president ― who automatically becomes the prime minister ― proved that the tradition of backroom politics is alive and well even in this difficult time. However, prime mover Ichiro Ozawa proved less influential than before. In what was virtually a contest between the allies and critics of Ozawa, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who was the runner-up in the first vote, beat Ozawa-backed Trade Minister Banri Kaieda in the run-off.
In tackling the many tasks that he inherits from the Kan administration, Noda needs to rally support from the various party factions and seek help from the opposition LDP, which controls the upper house. Concerning the major issue of raising the current 5 percent value added tax, for example, the Ozawa group is against the 10 percent proposal, but insists on expanding child care allowances and other welfare schemes.
Relations between Seoul and Tokyo under the DPJ administration has remained largely trouble-free as the Japanese leadership was rather cautious about the history problems although there were occasional controversies over Dokdo and descriptions in school textbooks. The latest episode of an attempt by Japanese lawmakers to land on Ulleungdo near Dokdo involved members of the opposition LDP and not the ruling DPJ.
Now Seoul officials note with concern Noda’s past remarks regarding some sensitive historical and political matters. It is on the record that he said Japanese officials need not restrain themselves from visiting the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo because the class-A war criminals of World War II enshrined there have been pardoned by the Japanese domestic law. He is quite strict about giving political rights to foreign residents, calling on them to become naturalized citizens if they want to exercise such rights in Japan.
He may act differently when he moves up to national leadership, which requires him to hold a broader vision on international affairs with greater sense of responsibility. So, we have to pay close attention to what fundamental understanding the new Japanese head of government has about his country’s modern history which affected Korea, China and other Asian neighbors. What is peculiar in the Northeast Asian politics is that amity today calls for Japan’s sincere admission of guilt in the Pacific War and acts of aggression in the decades before.
Whenever a new cabinet takes office in Tokyo, which has almost become an annual affair, Seoul has to make some adjustment for the triangular cooperative ties with the United States and Japan. The new Japanese government has its own nuclear problem from the tsunami-hit Fukushima power plants, but it also has to take part in the important regional issue of denuclearizing North Korea through the six-party talks or other frameworks.
There are too many areas of dependence and competition between the two countries, including security, trade and ever-expanding cultural exchanges. We have too often witnessed a mood of cooperation shattered by insensitive remarks by politicians while mutual trust remains thin due to frequent leadership changes over there.
The pace of settling diplomatic questions, the depth and breadth of economic cooperation and even the volume of tourist visits will all depend on the correctness of historical understanding and the warmth of friendship shared by the two neighbors at the top level. An early get-together of the leaders of Seoul and Tokyo is necessary.
