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Japan: Hesitant World Leader?
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18144 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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Date : |
11 / 1990 |
2,242 Words |
| Author
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Brian Bridges
Brian Bridges, former director of East Asian Affairs at
Chatham House in London, is writing a book on Japan's role in
the world. |
Summit photos often have more symbolism than first meets the eye. The publicity photos from the early annual Seven-Power Economic summits invariably showed the Japanese prime minister stuck on the edge of the main group. By the second half of the 1980s Japanese prime ministers were edging nearer the middle, but at this July's Houston summit Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu appeared center stage, cracking joke. Kaifu's new self-confidence and informal ranking reflected his fellow countrymen's own feelings about themselves. Thanks in no small part to Kaifu himself, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party had recovered from 18 months of political paralysis; in addition, the economy was undergoing a sustained boom, and tortuous negotiations with the United States over trade barriers had reached a degree of resolution. Japan seemed reengaged in international affairs, and abroad expectations were raised about more positive foreign policy initiatives. However, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait resurrected all the old hesitancy and circumspection in Japanese diplomacy and again raised doubts about Japan's contribution to the maintenance of international order.
To the world outside, Japan is still seen as a kind of paradox: a massive economic power, justly renowned for its dynamism and innovation, but yet, in many ways, faltering and, at times, even immobile in political and security affairs. Japan is a major overseas investor and trader (with a trade surplus that has, in recent years, even exceeded in value the total GNP of some European countries), the world's leading creditor, and the largest provider of official development assistance (ODA), having just overtaken the United States. This has inevitably given the Japanese a great deal of confidence in their economy - and its ability to survive oil price rises such as those that occurred
... (1998 of 14120 Characters)
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