Japan's political environment underwent yet another virtual earthquake in the past week with the departure of Democratic Party of Japan prime minister Hatoyama Yukio after less than nine months in office and his replacement as DPJ president and prime minister by his former deputy prime minister and finance minister Kan Naoto Tuesday.
Hatoyama had entered office last September on a wave of popular expectations after the centrist DPJ swept last August's Diet lower house elections and ended over two decades of consecutive conservative Liberal Democratic Party rule.
However, Hatoyama ran afoul of a bitter controversy over the DPJ's campaign promise to negotiate the removal of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station at Futenma in Okinawa and resigned in the wake of his inability to fulfill that promise after extended negotiations with Washington.
Hatoyama also pulled down with him controversial "shadow shogun" DPJ secretary-general Ozawa Ichiro, whose alleged political money scandals accelerated the demise of the first DPJ cabinet.
Hatoyama's lightening resignation reflected the continuation of Japan's grave political instability and the need for a comprehensive structural change in Japan's political culture and ecology.
The most fundamental path for such change must first proceed through reform of the mentality of Japanese citizens and social culture in order to allow Japanese citizens to cultivate an independent and autonomous character.
Without greater independence of judgement among Japan's citizens, Kan is likely to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor and the three LDP prime ministers who also departed office after serving for only a year or less.
In another words, Japan must develop a political culture in which "yes" means "yes" and "no" means "no" and let the world, including the U.S. and the People's Republic of China, know that the era of "unconditionally saying 啢es' or 勓o' is over."
New assertive era
Since Japan broke relations with Taipei in September 1972 and recognized the PRC, its domestic political forces and politicians were long divided into "pro-Beijing" or "pro-Taiwan" factions.
Nevertheless, in the wake of generational changes and the development of the PRC into a great economic and political powder and Taiwan's noteworthy democratization, the use of previous polarizations into "anti-Chinese Communist" or "pro-China" camps as the sole standard for political judgments or alliances has faded.
Instead, a greater appreciation has emerged in Tokyo for the formulation of diplomatic policy that is based on Japan's national interests and this reorientation has been transformed into careful consideration in diverse policies of how best to manage interaction with both China and Taiwan in concrete issues.
Therefore, Taiwan must approach Japan from the standpoint of enhancing common interests and not remain mired in preoccupations of who is "pro-China" or "pro- Taiwan."
Kan's assumption of office provides a new starting point as the new DPJ prime minister enters office as positive expectations from the Japanese citizenry revived to early 62 compared to Hatoyama's dismal exit approval rating of just over 19 percent.
The Taiwan government should take advantage of the entry of a new but more experienced DPJ administration to expand the scope of common interests and joint cooperation with Tokyo.
In the field of economics, Japan has already replaced the U.S. as Taiwan's second largest trading partner after the PRC, while the continued importance of Taiwan to Japan's national security strategy cannot be questioned.
Before the PRC became today's "great power," Japan's security was almost entirely in the hands of the U.S. while China was merely an important economic partner.
However, Japan is now actively concerned with the security of all of Asia, especially East Asia, and has begun to directly participate in Asian security affairs, such as the question of nuclear proliferation with North Korea or the sinking of the South Korean corvette "Cheonan" in March.
As a result, Japan's security interests with relation to Taiwan are being enhanced as well, a development which should be seen as positive for Taiwan's own security.
Moreover, the Taiwan government should devote greater attention to reviving tourism between Taiwan and Japan, especially given the proximity and historical and cultural ties between our two countries and the attractions of Taiwan's democratic and pluralistic society to Japanese travellers, including individuals or small groups.
With the assumption of power by the DPJ and of Kan Naoto's new Cabinet, the bilateral relationship has entered a new era in which Tokyo no longer has to choose between Beijing or Taipei but can promote deeper and wide-ranging substantive dialogue and interaction with Taiwan.
If the past urban and consumer activist can fulfill the promise implicit in T-shirts proclaiming "Yes, We Kan!", the new DPJ grassroots prime minister may indeed bring a new fresh breeze that can open the door for Tokyo to manifest more progressive and assertive global leadership.
This new era of opportunity for Taiwan is symbolized by the presence in the Kan Cabinet of Renho, a young politician whose mother is from Taiwan, who will serve as state minister in charge of government revitalization.
Source: Taiwan News Online - Editorial 2010/06/10
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
